Chosen Destiny
by mockinjay771995
Summary: When Shai Rutter finally gets to spend the summer with her dad she's in for a surprise. But little did she know how much she was involved in the mysteries that surrounded her. Will she accept her role as chosen one? Will she need help from her new friends? Will she live long enough to see what her parents always hid from her?
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys

I'm really excited this is my first story and I hope you guys like it. Please tell me if you want me to continue.

Shai's POV

England! I'm so excited you have no idea! I'm spending the summer with my dad in Liverpool. The last time I saw him was Christmas two years ago.

I'm babbling aren't I, I do that when I'm excited. Which you know I am...EXCITED!

Sorry, I'll stop.

Okay you caught me, I lied. But, I should probably skip ahead so you don't put a bullet in my head (no pun intended, you'll know later)

After a plane ride that lasted too long I was riding in an english taxi towards my dad's house in the outskirts of Liverpool.

**The driver asked. My phone was blowing up with texts from mom. **

**How was the flight? **

**Are you nervous? **

**Have you seen your father yet? **

**You probably see where I get my babbling problem from. **

**After answering what I hoped was mom's last text. I registered that the driver had talked. I looked at the rear view mirror and met the man's gaze. He had piercing blue eyes that sent a chill through my bones. I instinctively scooted a little closer to the door. **

**I said nervous. **

**He noticed my discomfort I caught out of the corner of my eye a small smile on his face. **

**Five minutes later he pulled up in front of a pretty house with a large oak tree out front. **

**I got out and unloaded my bags. I was about to pay him but he refused. He said. He drove away leaving confused, a little sick, and absolutely EXCITED. **

**Sorry. **

**Sorry this is my first story the posts will get better. I promise, no swear, on my life, well maybe not on my life, but you get it. **

**Please tell me what you think. **

**May the odds be ever in your favor.**


	2. Chapter 2

I was told that my conversation I wrote was erased so I'm going to fill you in.

The driver asked if it was Shai's first time in England. Shai said yes. And when she had tried to pay the driver he said it was a favor from an old friend.

Sorry about the confusion.

Shai's POV

Yesterday was a blur.

Just when I had finally worked up the courage to knock on the front door, something happened.

I was about to knock on the door when the wind whipped my hair around my face and momentarily blocked my vision. In that split second I heard a voice.

You've returned

The voice was so soft spoken the wind nearly drowned it out. Already a bit on edge, I spun around, ready to fight or flight. The wind died down and the yard was empty.

"You're losin it Shai." I said to myself.

I turned around, ready to actually go inside. But, the door opened. Still jumpy I leapt back and braced myself ready to swing.

"Hello to you too." I heard my dad say. I sighed and relaxed my tense muscles.

The rest of the day was a lot of

"I'm glad you came", "You've gotten taller." "How's your mom?"

and "Why are you so jumpy."

I also met his dog, a husky named Bear. The craziness of the day allowed me to forget about the phantom voice and the creepy driver. Everything was normal, until that night...

I'm glad you guys are reading. It means a lot. Sorry about the first chapter being so messy. The rest will be better, promise.


	3. Chapter 3

Shai's POV

I knew you'd come to help

I'm not sure if I dreamt the voice, but I know I wasn't dreaming the girl standing in my bedroom.

A little girl probably like six or seven stood in the center of the room. She had two little braids framing her face and a dress that looked like it would fit in a well off Victorian home. Before I could say anything she grabbed my arm and pulled me out of bed.

We don't have much time, come on

I followed her. We went downstairs and she stopped in front of the door to the library. I almost went inside, but once again she grabbed my arm.

NO! listen

I opened the door a crack and peered inside. I noticed two people my dad, and the driver who had dropped me off. They were obviously fighting.

"You thought everything would be normal when you left that house. Well, you were wrong, everythings just gotten worse." I heard the driver say.

"There's nothing I can help you with. Nina's not the chosen one anymore and she can't help you." Dad told him.

"You're right and she's an adult now much harder to manipulate. The new chosen one on the other hand would be very easy to convince."  
"Rufus don't dare lay a finger on Shai."

"Then do what I say!" The driver (Rufus?) yelled. "Or I'll make sure that sweet girl upstairs experiences her own living hell. Do you understand?"

For a second I thought dad would hit him, but he didn't.

"I understand." He said quietly. Sensing that the conversation had come to a close a quietly crept to the stairwell where I hid in dark shadows until Rufus had left.

As I went back to bed a million and 1 thoughts kept fighting to surface. Three stood out to me and kept the center of my attention. 1. My parents have lied to me for fifteen years. 2. Mom had been something called the chosen one, and it sounds like I might be too.

Three made me the most nervous. 3. I had been warned about all this by a ghost.


	4. Chapter 4

Shai's POV

I wasn't 100 percent sure what to do. One by one options ran through my head, I shut down almost every one. Option 1- Confront dad. Nope, I know he'll clam up, I'll learn nothing and probably be sent home. Option 2- Find Rufus. No, I may be a fighter when I had to be, but intentionally searching for a possibly unhinged psychopath didn't appeal to me. Option 3- Don't do anything. Hell no, I'm not the type to do nothing, and even if I was I'd make exceptions for this situation. That left me with option 4- finding out who the little girl was. That choice had been at the top of my list anyway. If I found out who that little girl was everything else might just fall into place.

Acting on that whim I decided to cut through the park to the local library. The day would've been nice if it wasn't for the strom raging in my head. The sun was shining unusually brightly, tall ancient trees provided shade, a group of kids not mucher younger than me where playing soccer (or football, I guess) in the wide open field. It was easy for me to get lost in my thoughts, which is why I didn't see him hurtling towards me.

"Hey watch out!" His warning was sounded a second too late. The next thing I knew I was lying on the ground with a boy about my age on top of me. "I'm so sorry, you have no idea." He said scrambling to get up. "It's okay,"I said. "It's my fault." He held his hand out to me. I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to my feet. He stared at me for a second, his eyes lit up in recognition. "Hey, you're Rutter's daughter right?" My natural sense of suspicion kicked in.

"Why?" He must've noticed my discomfort. "It's just my parents are friends of your dad's and they knew that he had a daughter coming up for the summer." That relaxed me a bit. That was actually the first time I noticed I hadn't really relaxed since I got off the plane. I've been on edge the past two days. "So how'd you know I was his daughter?" I asked sounding just as curious about him as he sounded about me.

"I didn't recognize you." He must've seen the look on my face.

"It's a small town," He explained. " Everybody knows everything about everybody else."

"Oh, so you didn't know who I was while you were crashing into me. So, I'm your parents friend's daughter."

"Exactly." He smiled. This was the first time I actually looked at him and processed him. He had brown hair, deep brown eyes, and he was about and inch or two taller than me. I found myself blushing when I realized he was actually pretty atractive. He must've took my silence as deep thought because afetr another minute he said.

"I'd be careful if I was you." This caught my attention.  
"Why?" I asked hoping on a very very long shot that I wouldn't have to research too much. No such luck.  
"It's just, like I said. Everybody knows everybody, and you're new and different. A mystery, and people around here don't like mysteries." I laughed.

"That's ironic." I said. He gave me a weird look. "Why?" I just shrugged. My phone buzzed. It was my dad, not surprisingly he was worried. I sighed.

I turned to the boy. "Sorry I better go." I apologized.

"Is it your dad?" He asked.

"Yeah." I was halfway to the park's edge when he caught up with me.

"Hey," He said. "I never caught your name."

"Shaileene, but everyone calls me Shai."

"Shai..I like that. See you around."

I found myself smiling as I walked home.


	5. Chapter 5

Shai's POV

There's very few days I can remember being as confused as I am now. I'm so lost about everything. I just needed to clear my head and as cheesy as it was there's only one way I knew I could. When I heard dad's car pull out of the driveway I went into my bedroom and locked the door. I pulled out my cellphone and dialed the number. The phone was picked up on the second ring.

"Hello." I breathed a sigh.

"Hey mom." I said.

"Oh, hey how's England?"

"It's fine. It's great actually." My voice cracked.

"It doesn't sound so fine, you okay?" She sounded genuinely concerned.

"Yeah just a lot happened." My voice cracked again.

"Nothing that bad could possibly have happened. It's not like you got arrested right? Did you?" I laughed.

"No mom I'm not in prison."

"Good, I don't think I would've been able to negotiate bail ten thousand miles away." There was a pause, I was trying to figure out how to word what I really wanted to say.

"Something's wrong. What is it?" I sighed again. No point arguing.

"Just confused, that's all." She knew I was holding something back, but she didn't press.

"Do you wanna come home?" She asked.

"No, I've just got some things I need to take care of."

"Okay, if you need help you can just tell me."

"I promise I will."

There was another brief pause where I heard voices on her line.

"Listen Shai, I gotta go."

"Okay love you mom."

"Love you too sweetie."

The second she hung up I leaned my head against the wall. Well that hadn't helped at all. I glanced at my alarm clock 1:30. The library would still be open, maybe I could find out something about the little girl.

As I was walking towards town my mind kept straying back to the phone call. If I had known that the phone call would be the last time I would actually know my mom was alive for two weeks, I wouldn't have let her hang up.

Hey guys so happy you're reading. This is the part of the story when everything really starts developing, so I hope you all keep reading.


	6. Chapter 6

Shai's POV

I opened the front door in high spirits. After spending close to four hours in the public library I had finally found records of a girl who resembled the spirit.

I spent about two hours searching through old town records. I found nothing that sparked my interest in old newspapers, but the again the librarian told me a fire had destroyed a lot of those a couple years ago so there was a lot of gaps. Finally I came across an obituary for a women named Emily Grant who died in 2011. The obituary itself held nothing for me but the photo caught my attention. The eyes of the old women looked exactly like the little girl. I decided to look through birth certificates, no one named Emily Grant was born locally in the year the old women had apparently been born.

Frustrated I turned to my plan B, Google. I typed in Emily Grant's name, her supposed birth date, Liverpool England, and the date of her death, nothing. Still I kept at it, I wasn't going to give up on this gut feeling I had. After about another hour of searching the internet with every phrase (and every unpleasant four letter word) I could think of, I still found nothing. Then I hit pay dirt. I found that a little girl by the name of Sarah Frobisher-Smythe was born locally on Emily Grant's birth date. Normally this would mean nothing I mean how many people were born everyday, but every photo I found of Sarah Frobisher-Smythe identically resembled those of Emily Grant's. Either Sarah and Emily were related, or they were the same person. The last hour of my research consisted of me finding out everything there was to know about the Frobisher-Smythes. I didn't learn everything I wanted to, but I had learned enough to know that Sarah would be a big help to me if I could contact her.

Contact her?

That was the first time that thought had gone through my head. If Sarah knew that Rufus was in the house before than she might know other things. I knew what I was doing when I got home.

My thoughts as I walked home were interrupted by an all too familiar voice.

"Hey, Shai." I turned to face the boy who had practically flattened me the day before.

"Hey.." I trailed off realizing I had never asked what his name was yesterday.

"Ethan." He said.

Ethan? Sounded a little familiar don't know why.

"What'cha doin" He glanced at the print-outs in my hand. I immediately pulled back to keep him from seeing.

Everybody knows everything about everybody else.

His words flashed through my mind, I knew that researching a long dead family wasn't considered normal. I don't need people digging into what I'm doing.

"Do you wanna join us we're playing basketball." He offered.

I turned to look at the group of people he had broken out of to come talk to me.

They all looked about either 14,15 and one looked older.

"Come on." He didn't wait for an answer he just grabbed my elbow and dragged me towards the cement fenced in basketball court. There he introduced me to his friends.

"Guys this is Shai. I nearly killed her yesterday so I thought maybe she'd want to join us." I looked at the group of people I was now I the midst of. The first one he introduced was a red head with dark brown eyes filled with..anger? (Jade Miller, his sister) Then, a girl my age with blonde hair and dark eyes (Kiara Lewis) Her brother an African American a year older than me (Alex Lewis) A girl with dark brown hair and clear blue eyes (Sophie Clark) And a boy with blonde hair and dark eyes that was also my age (David Campbell). I was surprised that the only person who didn't seem to like me was Jade. I actually got along with everyone else pretty well. We played a couple rounds of basketball and just kind of hung out.

I actually managed to forget how dangerous a situation I was in. Which isn't a good idea on my part, ever.

When I did get home later that day I went up to my room and hid the papers amongst a my books where they were well hidden. I went back downstairs to see dad was on the phone with someone he sounded...sad.

"Yeah, I'll tell her." I heard him say. "No, I get it. Okay, thank you." He hung up and I didn't like the look on his face.

"Shai, I have to tell you something." I didn't need super human instincts to know that something was up, or that whatever it was I wasn't going to like it.

"It's about your mom.." He started, and that's when I almost lost it.

"Is she okay?" I had to try hard to keep my voice steady.

"Shai...She's missing."

The room was so suffocatingly silent you could hear a pin drop.

Hey guys so the story's really just starting to get into the main points so please keep reading. I didn't want to end the chapter on a totally depressing note so I put that last part in to lighten the mood just a little bit.

Did it work?I promise I'll post as soon as I can.


	7. Chapter 7

Shai's POV

I lay in the shade of a large tree somewhere deep in the woods. Thoughts bubbled in my mind, but like their fragile nature destines they disappear. I've been laying there for hours just watching the sun slowly vanish behind thick dark clouds. It's strange, it's like even the sky understands the swirling tornado my fears create within me.

I lay there longer still. The thunder overhead didn't shake me from my trance, nor did they torrential rain. I was paralyzed. I ignored my beeping phone, not smart I'll admit it, but it's what I did.

The only thing that had any effect on my was the energenic fuzz ball that followed me when I ran.

I turned to Bear, he lay next to me looking at me with those sad brown dog eyes. And I just broke.

I sobbed. If you knew me you'd be surprised. I don't cry, I don't like it.

But, it helped me. When I was able to control myself I could think clearly.

I know who did this. I know who, why, and what's going to happen next.

I stood up. Purpose burning and spreading through my veins. Mom's not the type to give up without a fight. And neither am I.

The purpose was soon replaced with fury which grew stronger with every step towards where I was going. It wasn't home, I couldn't go there, not at the moment. I needed help from certain people, people who might understand, and help.

I needed allies.

Sorry It's so short but I have writer's block. I'll post soon promise.


	8. Chapter 8

Ethan's POV

I liked my friends but they could be a lot to handle all at once. When the clouds had started to get thicker everybody started to go home, even Jade just kind of left. I didn't though. I stayed here shooting baskets just enjoying the quiet. I thought I was completely alone but I was mistaken.

"Ethan." I turned to see Shai standing at the gate. She looked like she'd just been to a natural hell and back. The rain had caused her usually wavy dark hair to flatten. Her bright green eyes were very red, and mud was smudged on her arms and t-shirt. I'm the kind of person who doesn't ever think before I speak so without hesitation I blurted out, "Where have you been?"

She looked down at herself and seemed to just notice the state she was in. She just shrugged. "Out."

"Yeah, that much I got. Out where?" I wasn't paying a lot of attention and my shot bounced off the side of the rim and hurtled towards her. I almost called out but she caught the ball and easily made a bank shot from where she still stood by the gate.

"Not bad. You play?" She shrugged again. "I'm on my school's team." She said simply.

I've never met anyone who has ever been father away than London. Frankly, Shai fascinated me, she was different and mysterious. I wanted to ask her about where she lived but I could already tell getting her to talk was going to be a hell of a time. So I decided to ask every question directly. "Where do you live?" I started.

"About a mile and half that way." She motioned to the road beyond that fence that headed South." I wasn't surprised by her response at all. "No, I mean where do you actually live?"

"Oh, New York."

"City?" I've never even seen the Atlantic and I've always wanted to see NYC. She laughed.

"Everyone asks that. No I live in a small town up state."

"Oh." I must've sounded disappointed because she said. "If it makes you feel any better I've lived just about everywhere else." That caught my attention. "Where? Why?" She laughed again. "California, Virginia, Texas, Ohio, and now I'm back to New York. I was born there."

"Why'd you move so much?" She shrugged. I noticed she does that, a lot. "I don't know we just always seemed to be moving."

"Who's we?" She waited a second before answering. "My mom and me."

"Is that it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You and you mom is that all." Once again she shrugged (I counted four times so far) "I guess, I don't have any siblings and mom and dad have been split up for as long as I remember."

I can't imagine what that would be like. Jade's older than me so she's always been there, and I can't even picture mom and dad living in separate houses let alone separate continents. "Is it hard?" I ask quietly.

"What?"

"Your parents being separated." She said nothing for a minute. "No, it's always been like that."

"How's your mom?" I asked changing the subject. This time she took a couple steps closer to me and she crossed her arms. "She's missing."Straight forward, simple. Her crudeness caught me off guard, but not as much as what she said next.

"And you're gonna help me." The way she said gave me the impression that even if I didn't want to help her I'd end up doing it anyway.

"Help you do what?" She smiled. "Help me find the sorry jerk who did it."

"And how do we do that?"

"First are you in?" I nodded.

"Count me in."


	9. Chapter 9

Nina's POV

I woke up and the room was spinning so fast I thought I would pass out again. I tried to pull myself from the floor, it felt like the floor was moving out from under me.

"I see you're awake." I looked up at the voice, which was a mistake. He was shining a bright flashlight in my face screwing up my vision even more. He came up to me grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the wall, which I was using for support. He looked amused. "It's funny how you used to be able to mess up my plans." Even though I felt like I was dying I was white hot furious that he was messing with the people I care about. "No, I find it kind of sad." He actually laughed. "Strong words from someone who can't stand on her own to feet." As if to prove his point he gave me a slight push, it was enough. I lost my footing and hit the hard cement beneath me.

"You're pathetic." He hissed inches from my ear.

"Go to hell." I spit back. I heard him laugh once again and walk out wherever he had come in. I heard a lock click in place. He left me in complete darkness with nothing but the fear laden thoughts about what he would do to Shai if he got his hands on her.

Shai's POV

I couldn't sleep. I already gave up trying at around midnight. But laying there in complete darkness is the perfect place to contemplate how to contact a spirit. For some reasons as much as I loved horror movies they're methods of contacting the dead seemed a bit sketchy for my taste. So I decided to talk to myself until something else answered. "Please something anything just answer me, I need help." I nearly jumped a mile when the voice of a little girl answered my questions. "Don't ever do that again. If you're going to summon something form the spirit world you need to be real specific. If you're too general anything can pass through your thread."

I looked at the little girl standing in the center of my bedroom.

"Huh?" Not the best thing I could've asked but frankly I was still trying to register everything she said. She patiently sat at the foot of my bed. "Summoning a spirit is very dangerous and can get you killed. You especially." This caught me off guard. "How come?" She sighed, I never though a dead seven year old could look annoyed but she pulled it off. "Because you're the chosen one, you have a very special connection to spirits and if spirits can harness even some of your power they can return to the physical world." I just gaped for a second. "I'm sorry it's 2:45 in the morning, I'm tired and slow, you're going to have to explain yourself just a little bit more." She sighed again.

"The chosen one is a descendent of the Gods, therefore you have a very unique power and control over the bridge between the spirit and physical worlds. Summoning a spirit is a very risky business you have to be very very specific on who you're summoning or else a different spirit can connect to your thread and transfer into the physical world. That's probably how Rufus is in the physical world." That was something I didn't expect to hear. "Wait, what about Rufus?" She looked at me funny. "Do you remember anything about those stories your mom used tell you?" I thought about all those amazing tales she used to tell me when I was little. "Wait, you mean that all of those stories actually happened?" She nodded. "Yes, and they even actually happened to your parents. You remember what happened to the villain in one of the stories right? He got pulled into the spirit world. He's been there ever since. And since he didn't die naturally when he managed to return to the physical world he was able to maintain his mortal form, Rufus is mortal and looking for power." I thought about this for a minute. "Is that why he has my mom for power? But, she's not the chosen one anymore. Why does he need her." She looked uncomfortable. "He's using her for bait. You're the chosen one and he just wants to manipulate you. Which is why I'm don't want you to keep looking for her. You'll get hurt and I promised your mom I'd protect you." This was news to me, today seemed to be full of information. "You talked to mom? can you connect to her now? Do you know where she is?" She was beginning to fade I could see it. "I'm sorry, but no I can't connect to her. I'm real sorry Shai. Good luck."

She vanished, leaving me with nothing but my troubled thoughts and my worries weighed heavy on my mind.

"Thanks Sarah, I'm gonna need it."


	10. Chapter 10

Shai's POV

We sat huddled in the same dark corner of the library where I had found out the truth of the spirit.

"So rewind, tell me exactly everything that happened and why you think it's this Ralph dude." I rolled my eyes at Ethan, refraining from saying the first few words that popped into my head. "One, it's Rufus. Two, everything about the what happened points to Rufus. The door was broken in." I started to explain all of my research but he interrupted. "And that means what exactly?" I rolled my eyes again. "It means that either the kidnapper was someone mom didn't know or they were somebody that she wouldn't have answered the door for." I waited a beat hoping he'd connect the dots, he didn't. "Someone like Rufus." I concluded slowly. He paused processing. "Did you ever consider that maybe you just watch too much Law & Order?"

"Ethan, this is serious. She could be dead for all I know and I just need to find her." My voice shook violently and I felt hot tears threatening. I guessed that was the first time he noticed how strongly I felt about this because his demeanor changed. "I'm sorry, I just don't know how any of this is going to help us if you already know who did this." He had a point I had no idea how this would help either. "Neither do I," I admitted. "But, I have no other ideas, how about you?" He paused again.

"Have you tried talking to your dad?" I laughed. "Yeah, 'hey just out of curiosity is there anything you know about mom's disappearance, and if not how about the psycho who wanted to kill me a few days ago?' That's a conversation that's not gonna happen." There was yet another beat of silence.

"Well I'm all out of ideas. We should give it up for the day, maybe tonight you'll get another visit from Sarah." The way he said it once again made me wonder if he knew something. When I first told him everything the only time he seemed really bothered was when I told him about Sarah and how she visited me. The way he said it now made me wonder again.

"There you two are." I nearly threw a large book that had been by the computer Ethan and I were huddled around. I stopped myself thank God.

Kiara came around a bookshelf that blocked us from view of any of the windows, or the door, not our smartest move.

"I've been looking for you two everywhere. Ethan you weren't answering your phone and Shai you weren't at your house." I thought about this for a minute. "Why were you looking for us?" Ethan asked. I stayed, silent I was honestly still a little scared that it was all too possible that Kiara heard something she wasn't supposed to. Kiara sensed the my discomfort but not the source, thankfully. "Sorry about your mom," She said. "Your dad was talking to my parents about it when I left." I was silent still hoping she hadn't heard anything. She turned to Ethan, "Your dad was supposed to pick you up at Shai's house, we should go before they start to flip out." Without another word she turned and headed out of the library. We followed a few steps behind, after about five minutes of silence Kiara stopped and after a pause she turned down an alleyway.

"Kiara," I spoke up, "Where are we going?" She didn't turn or break stride. "It's a shortcut." She said with a weird edge to her voice that I didn't like. She turned a corner, and stopped dead in front of a brick wall blocking our path. "Some shortcut." Ethan said dully.

Everything happened so fast I barely registered what happened before it was almost too late.

Kiara pulled an army knife from her pocket turned on Ethan and attacked him...

Sorry I haven't been writing. We just got done with all these tests in school, and a ton of other stuff that kept me occupied for a little while. I'll keep posting though promise.


	11. Chapter 11

Ethan's POV

"Some shortcut." I muttered. Kiara turned towards to me, at first I thought to reply with some snarky comment but she didn't. Instead she pulled out a knife and launched at me. The next thing I knew the blonde had pinned me to the hard ground of the alley with a pocketknife to my throat. I'll admit it I panicked. "Shai Do something!" I yelled. I looked at her, she was frozen, stunned. But my call for help snapped her out of it. She didn't do what I expected her to do, she turned and sprinted down the alley back the way we had come. "Shai! Where are you going! Please!" I called, no response only the sound of things being abruptly moved. I turned back to Kiara and met her eyes. They glowed a crimson red and were hardened over with anger and hatred.

"Your friend won't save you." She hissed in a voice that wasn't her own. "Kiara," I worked hard to keep my voice calm. "Do you really want to do this?" My question would never receive a response. Before Kiara could say or do anything a glass bottle shattered a couple feet from where I was pinned to the ground. We both turned to see Shai standing at the alleyway corner. Kiara let a low growl escape her throat. She pushed herself off me. When she went to get a better grip on her knife the steel blade slid across my cheek creating a long thin cut that began to bleed. Kiara noticed nothing she simply stood and began making her way towards Shai. My focus immediately went to the two girls. Kiara was briskly walked towards Shai knife ready to slit her throat.

"Shai run!" I yelled without thinking. She did, just not how I pictured it. She ran towards Kiara. Kiara swung the knife as Shai came within arms length. Shia ducked just in time, the lethal weapon caught Shai in the shoulder but she didn't seem to notice. Shai turned so she was standing behind Kiara. Kiara was confused for a split second but that's all it took. Shai came at her and kicked her in the center of her back. The force knocked Kiara head first into a dumpster up against the brick wall of the building on the right of the alley. The collision knocked Kiara out cold. I pulled myself to my feet still a little shaken up by everything that just happened.

"Is she okay?" Shai walked over to Kiara's unconscious form. After a second she said, "Yeah, she's just knocked out." That's not what I wanted to know. "No, I mean is she okay.." I trailed off not wanting to share what I witnessed. "Her eyes." I finished quietly. Shai nodded. "I know, I saw them too." She came over to me, and seemed to just notice that I had been cut.

"You okay?" She sounded genuinely concerned. I knew the question wasn't just about the wound, she was wondering if I was okay after one of my good friends just viciously attacked me. I nodded. "Yeah, how about you?" She glanced at her shoulder which was starting to bleed pretty bad. "Yeah."

I pulled out my cellphone. I dialed 911 but I didn't put the call through. I deleted the number and instead but in a cell number I've only ever used for this kind of emergency once before. As the phone ringed I watched Shai pull Kiara out and lay her a little off the center of the alley. Then, she moved the dumpster over so the dent Kiara made wasn't as obvious. When I heard my dad pick up I quickly made up a story. I told him that someone had tried to mug us on our way back and Kiara had passed out. He said he'd be right over. I had a gut feeling he wasn't going to be the only parent coming. When I hung up I saw Shai leaning up against the alley wall staring off into space.

"You think they'll believe us?" She shook her head.

"I don't think they even believe we were at the library today." She said.

"I don't get the eyes though, I mean what caused her to attack us?" I asked hoping she had an answer, by her obvious discomfort she did.

"Sarah, she told me some things last night." I waited for her to continue. She did, she explained everything.

I gaped for a second. "You think maybe Rufus had something to do with this, he would have connections to the spirit world wouldn't he?" She nodded, "That's what I'm thinking."

Our conversation was stopped short because we heard a car pull up and people getting out. I turned to Shai. "Ready to face the music?"

Her groan spoke volumes.


	12. Chapter 12

Shai's POV

I walked through the front door of the house, the last hour still repeating in my head on a loop. I sat down on the couch and focused on my thoughts as the loop came back to the beginning and started playing it's uncomfortable events.

After Ethan and I heard the car pull up we didn't have time to say anything else to each other. Ethan's parents, Kiara's mom , and dad all came into the alleyway. Kiara's mom was in hysterics and seeing her daughter unconscious on the ground nearly sent her over the edge. I felt terrible, Kiara was a nice girl, she's one of the people who had been genuinely nice to me when I first met her.

You didn't have a choice, I reminded myself. She was hurting Ethan. At that thought I glanced over at him and saw that he was trying to explain everything to his parents. I didn't think they looked convinced, but I had my own questions to duck around.

"Shai what happened?" Dad's voice was tight with worry and that made me feel even worse. I looked down at my shoes unable to meet his eye. "We were walking back from the library, and Kiara thought that this was a shortcut. When we came down here and saw that it wasn't we were going to turn around, but there was man standing in the way. At first we we didn't figure he was anyone bad, but then he pulled out a knife and attacked Ethan. Ethan ended up getting cut, and Kiara fainted when she saw the blood." I paused not wanting to keep up the lie, but I knew I had to so I reluctantly continued. "I was stunned,I didn't know what to do, at least until he ran at me. I just kind of kept away from him, I ended up getting cut in the shoulder but nothing more. When he saw that we didn't have anything, he ran." I stopped and just listened to the silence. The others must've stopped talking too because no familiar voices floated through the air. Even the normal sound of traffic and strangers talking seemed to have died down for just a second.

I wish that could have lasted.

"Did you see his face?" Dad asked. Call me paranoid but I was almost positive he didn't believe one word I had just said. I plowed on though sticking to my version of events.

"No, he wore a mask, I never saw his face." I already saw the mistake I made, I was silently praying Dad wouldn't catch my error. Thankfully he said nothing, I had a feeling that wouldn't last. I was thinking up excuses in my head when Ethan touched my shoulder. I jumped. "Sorry, you okay?" He asked the question in a way that made it sound like he meant the whole "robbery" thing, but I saw him glance between my dad and me for a split second. I nodded. "Yeah, I'll be okay." He nodded and went back towards his parents. I glanced at Kiara's mom and saw that she was on the phone, with the police I'm guessing.

"Shai come on." Dad called as he was walking back towards the street. I followed with one last look at the possible site of my death. "Where are we going?"

"Home." Okay then, I thought.

Now I sat on the couch once again being consumed by my circling thoughts and guilty conscience. Dad sat down next to me and instantly I knew I was about to get the same interrogation Ethan and probably Kiara would get.

"Shai what happened?" He wasn't yelling and I knew he wouldn't, even so I was hesitant to tell the truth. "I told you we were walking back from the library and.." He cut me off. "No, what really happened?" I wasn't expecting him to openly express his doubt of the story that caught me off guard. "I-I don't know what you mean?" I'll admit I lie like my mom, I just have no talent for it. I stayed silent. "Shai. Whatever happened you can tell me." I looked at him and I did, I told him everything Kiara attacking Ethan, her trying to kill me, even the glowing eyes. There was a long stretch of silence following my confession, one that was only broken by the sound of the wind howling outside.

"We were worried this would happen." I heard him say. Finally I couldn't take it I haven't told anyone about the whole Chosen One thing that I overheard and I was sick and tired of knowing that I was being lied to. "What, knew that I'd find out I was the Chosen One." He didn't even blink, didn't even look mildly surprised.

"Yes, and we knew that eventually someone would try to kill you."


	13. Chapter 13

Fabian's POV

"We knew that eventually someone would try to kill you."

Shai said nothing, but she didn't look scared or anything really her expression was blank. Finally she spoke, "Someone as in Rufus?"

I laughed it was a bitter sound. "Shai, Rufus isn't the only one who knows about the Chosen One, and he's not the only one who's willing to do something desperate to get to you." She was silent once again. "But you don't believe that." She concluded, "You know it was Rufus."

Now it was my turn to be silent. She took that as invitation to leave so she stood to go upstairs. "Shai, I know you're looking for your mother and I get that you feel like you have to, but you need to let it go." This was the wrong thing to say, I should've known that. She turned and I saw that she was mad.

"How am I supposed to just give it up? She could be dead or dying, I can't live with that especially if I might be able to find her."

"Might be able is the point. I'm just trying to protect you, you could get hurt or killed."

"But if I find her-" I cut her off. "And what if you do? That's exactly what Rufus wants." She let out a frustrated groan.

"You should just like Sarah."

"Sarah Frobisher-Smythe!? You've been talking to spirits!? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?!"

"Yes I'm aware. But, it's all I can do."

"Shai please just listen to me, I can never forgive myself if you got hurt, and you would never forgive yourself if you let someone else get hurt." She was silent again and I knew I'd touched on something important to her.

"I'm sorry," She said quietly, "But, I can't let someone die because of me." She turned and walked upstairs. I heard a door slam upstairs.

I knew I'd have to watch out for her for the next few days, If she was as much like Nina as I thought she was there was almost no way I was going to stop her.


	14. Chapter 14

Ethan's POV

That night as a slept I kept having nightmares. But, they weren't the nightmares I expected to have. Kiara, her knife, and even the haunting red eyes never appeared. Shai did on the other hand..

I was sitting in a dark corner of some plain concrete room. I spotted a large door on the opposite side of the room, I made my way to it but, before I got even halfway there something caught my attention. Hidden in a dark corner much like mine a dark crumpled heap that seemed to be moving. I carefully walk towards it ready to fight or flight. When I got close enough to see it clearly I realized exactly what I was looking at. Shai was curled up in the corner and she was breathing fast and shallow. I took a few tentative steps toward her but I quickly back peddled when I saw what state she was in. her eyes were glassed over and red blood coated her hands and was smeared on parts of her face, worst of all a knife was stuck deep into her chest. I had no idea what to do. Before I could even start to imagine how to react Shai looked up at me and her expression turned into such a heart breaking mixture of pain, anger, and hurt that I almost forgot I was in a dream. The voice that escaped her mouth wasn't her own, it was a mixture of hundreds of voices rolled into one. "Why don't you stop it from happening Osirion? You have the power. You can stop this. Just protect the Chosen One from doing something stupid."

The dream ended, and I woke with a start.

Shai was the first thing that went through my head, she's going to do something stupid, tonight, I'm sure of it.

I grabbed my cellphone. The clock read 12:47am. Ignoring the fact that she may not even be awake I quickly dialed her number and called her.

Shai's POV

My phone rang and I quickly canceled the call before the noise woke Dad up. Seeing as how I was already awake I went to my laptop and I opened up Google. I didn't even hesitate before typing in abandoned buildings in the Liverpool area. I've been thinking about the stories my Mom used to tell me and it seems like Rufus had a thing for abandoned buildings. It took me a few minutes but I found a website with information about an old 17th century jail house that was a few miles from here. I pulled up the web page and quickly scanned it for information.

The jail house was apparently one of hundreds of these things in England and the Southern UK. After some searching through just a bit more thoroughly I learned that the building used to be open for tourists until about 15 years ago. The building inexplicably burned down and killed 3 people. After that the jail house has been under reconstruction until local budget cuts caused the jail house to close to the public for good. It's been vacant for about 3 years.

I spent another half hour looking at as many photos I could find to get a lay out of the place.

After that I packed everything I thought I would need into my book bag.

I crept downstairs and, after making sure that my escape would be unnoticed, I slipped into the crisp English night.


	15. Chapter 15

Shai's POV

I walked to the park and I sat on a bench to examine a map of the area and find the shortest route to the jail house. My time in England has made me very suspicious of just about everything so I kept a pocket knife at my side just in case I needed to defend myself.

After a few minutes I was pretty confident in my plan and where I was going so I stood up to leave.

"Shai don't." I turned and faced Ethan. I didn't have time to ponder what he was doing or how he knew where I was because he grabbed my arm and began pulling back towards the park's entrance and away form where I wanted to go.

"Ethan let go!" He said nothing and didn't loosen his grip. I got frustrated and dug my heels into the ground refusing to go another step. "Ethan let me go, I don't have time for this." I managed to pry my wrist from his grasp, but he turned stopping me once again.

"Shai whatever it is you're doing you have to stop. It's going to get you killed."

"I don't care! I know where she is and I need to find her." I turned away and tried to leave but he yanked me back so I was facing him again. He tightly gripped my shoulders forcing me to stay.

"You may not care but there are people who will. Your mom would care if you died. Your dad would care." He paused and seemed to be looking to see if his words had any impact on me. Secretly they did I knew he had a point but I was stubborn and I hid my emotions well. I opened my mouth to respond but he cut me off.

"I would care Shai, I have to protect you and you can't get hurt."

I paused and I didn't know what to say, luckily my search for a response was cut short by the sound of a car approaching.

An English taxi turned the corner and pulled up the dirt side road that I had been heading for before Ethan came.

Ethan released my shoulder and stared after the cab. He voiced my question. "Who would need a taxi at 2:30 in the morning?"

My eyes widened in recognition when I saw the taxi number. I grabbed Ethan's wrist and pulled him towards the vehicle.

"It's Rufus!" I yelled. "It's Rufus' taxi! We have to follow it."

Ethan's POV

Shai continued to pull me along until I was able to match her pace and sprint beside her. We turned and ran up the side road after the cab.

"Shai, I had a dream you were doing something like this and you ended up dying..." I trailed off not wanting to voice my fear, (I was also extremely out of breath and couldn't say another word at the moment.) I continued when I was able to get the words out.

"The dream said I had to protect you because I was the Osirion, and you were the Chosen One."

Before she could respond the yellow cab parked in front a old stone building with obvious fire damage. We both crouched down low in the the undergrowth of the forest line we had been running on to avoid detection.

"Shai you can't do this." I whispered. She turned to face me her expression unreadable.

"In the dream I was alone, you're here now. If you are my Osirion than there's nothing to worry about." We heard the loud creak of rusty, idle metal as Rufus walked inside the old jail house. Shai stood to follow him but I pulled her back down.

"Ethan, I have to do this if not she's going to die I know she is." The pain in her voice and tears welling up in her eyes made me let go but I still didn't like the idea of her going in there.

She seemed to read my mind because she voiced a plan, "I'll go in through a workers' entrance in the back, it should still be there. Wait thirty seconds and if it's safe come in after me okay?" I nodded. She braced herself ready to sprint, I stopped her one last time.

Without thinking I quickly kissed her on the cheek.

"Good luck." I said. She smiled and nodded.

Without even a moments hesitation she sprinted behind the building an I heard another creak as another long forgotten door was forced open.

Thirty agonizing long seconds later I hadn't seen or heard anything from Rufus so I followed her lead and crept behind the building. I found the service door and, not wanting to make more noise, I slipped through the small space that Shai had left open.

I watched with a bad feeling as the peaceful dark cover of night was replaced with the sinister pitch dark of the prison.


	16. Chapter 16

Shai's POV

By the time Ethan made it into the jail house I was sitting in a dark corner of a square concrete room, even in complete darkness I sensed the rooms emptiness. For the first time it went through my mind how hard it would be for Ethan and I to hide or get away from Rufus in this place, sure I had the print-outs but Ethan was clueless and I hadn't ever actually explored the building. I pushed that thought to the back of my mind.

The plan is solid.

After reassuring myself I sat and strained my ears for any sign of Ethan, Mom, or Rufus. I was so focused on thoughts of Rufus that I didn't hear Ethan come into the room. He was obviously as blind as I felt in the darkness because his foot crushed my hand. I hissed and pulled my hand out from under him.

"Ethan watch out."

"Sorry." He sat down next to me. I blindly fished through my bag for the flashlight. I handed it to Ethan when I finally got a hold of it and I pulled all of the papers I printed out. As we looked at the photos and general layouts I explained my plan.

"Through the door on the left wall there should be a semi-smaller room and that's how we'll get into the basement. That's the room where the floor collapsed and the hole should be big enough for us to get through."

"Why are we going to the basement?" Ethan asked as he scanned the photo.

"That's where the original holding cells were when the prison was first built. I think that's where Rufus is keeping her."

"Okay, but isn't there an easier way than crawling through the floor." I nodded. "Of course,there's a staircase in the front of the building, I think Rufus would have set some sort of trap or something, he's expecting someone to try something." He simply nodded. We rose and Ethan walked ahead of me to light the way to the side room that would be our passageway to the prison's lowest level. When we managed to open the door with as little noise as possible Ethan shined the light down the gaping hole in the cement. I came up next to him and stared at the basement floor about ten feet below us. The hole seemed to be taunting me. It was daring me to try to pass through, daring me to do something stupid. Well I had came here to do just that and wasn't backing down.

I stepped to the very edge of the hole and without warning some of the stone gave away underneath my feet. Ethan grabbed my elbow and pulled me away before I fell. The loose stone hit the floor below and a loud thud followed suit.

"Who's there?" I heard Rufus' voice and I shivered at the memory of him threatening my Dad. Ethan and I retreated back into the shadows and we both stopped breathing for a few seconds as the bright beam of Rufus' light passed around the room. I felt myself start to breath again as I heard his footsteps carry him away from the hole.

"You ready?" Ethan asked. I nodded.

Ethan's POV

Shai was smaller than me and faster so we both thought it'd be best if she went first. I handed her the flashlight and I stayed close as she slipped through the hole. When she was low enough I released her arm and I heard her sneakers hit the floor below. She said something but I couldn't make it out. A second later she tossed the flashlight through the gap. I thumbed it on and slowly dropped through the hole.

"Shai?" I whispered when I was safely on the ground. I heard scuffling off towards to the right and I shined the light beam in that direction. I was stunned by what the light illuminated. Rufus' leaned against the hard stone wall and he had Shai with a knife pressed to her throat.

Why does it always have to be frickin' knives


	17. Chapter 17

Shai's POV

When Ethan released my arm I hit the cement floor a second later. For a beat adrenaline.

We were going to pull this off. Mom would be okay and we'd stop Rufus, whatever his plan was.

Then, the raw energy drained from my body, Rufus stood in the way of the hallway that led to the holding cells, the hole was ten feet above my head, I was totally trapped. "Ethan ru-" My warning was cut short by Rufus' hand clamping firmly over my mouth. He forced me back into the shadows and I cringed away from him as he hissed in my ear. "Throw the flashlight up and let him know it's safe to come down." I tried to twist my head away from his grip but he was stronger than me. "Do it!" He said. "You wouldn't want an innocent life paying for your disobedience, would you?" I knew instantly he meant Mom and my muscles laxed when I realized I had no other choice. I tossed the flashlight up to Ethan who began making his way down not a second later.

Rufus silently slid a knife from his pocket and held the cold steel against my throat. I shrank away from the blade's coldness. I've recently been developing a phobia of these things since Kiara attacked us.

When Ethan finally made it through he looked around for me. "Shai?" He whispered. I saw him and I just wanted him safe. I wanted him to run and never come within a hundred miles of this place again. The fear of someone else getting hurt overcame my fear of Rufus and the knife. I jabbed my elbow deep into his torso. I knocked his breath out for a moment but he still had a hold of me. I tried to run but he managed to keep me back. The noise alerted Ethan who shone the light in our direction. I saw the situation register on Ethan's face. Rufus had regained his breath and his confident demeanor. He smiled. His smile reminded me of a shark. Vicious, strong, blood-thirsty, and filled with the cold sinister purpose.

Ethan's POV

Rufus smiled at me like a Cheshire cat. He held his hand out for my flashlight and Shai's bag that was slumped across my shoulder. I looked at Shai wishing I could fight back but it was hopeless. Rufus' knife was pressed up against her neck. One simple swipe of his hand and she'd be dead. I never really payed attention to Shai's constant warnings of how dangerous Rufus was, now I wish I had listened.

I relented and handed Rufus all of the supplies that she had brought.

After that Rufus grabbed my arm and began pulling us down the long narrow hallway. I focused dead ahead and tried to think of someway to get us out. I couldn't think of any and instead I turned to Shai. She kept looking from the right side of the hallway to the left. One seemed to catch her attention, her eyes got wide and she pulled against Rufus' grip for a second. He yanked her back with ease and continued on without breaking stride. Two doors from the one that Shai had been so interested in Rufus opened it and shoved inside without ceremony. "Get comfortable." Was all he said before locking us in.

"What was the deal with the door?" I asked her. She shook her head. "That was the only door that was bolted and chained. She has to be in there." I nodded. All of the doors in the old prison had simple bolt locks and chains instead of keys, simple but effective.

Shai went over to a corner sat down brought her knees to her chest and rested her head on her knees. She looked as worn out and confused as I felt. I sat down next to her and took her hand in mine. She turned her head and she just smiled at me sadly. We just sat there too muddled for words and too Exhausted for action. I didn't take me long to start considering this a horrible situation. But, I also knew it wouldn't be the last one. I knew that as long as I kept hanging around Shai these kind of things would become normal. The thought of constant danger scared me, but it didn't keep me from smiling when she laid her head on my shoulder.

Nina's POV

I leaned my head against the wall behind me trying to cope with the headache. I was beginning to come to the conclusion that Rufus had drugged me. That's the only thing that explained the blackout when he first kidnapped me and the constant flu like symptoms. I heard the locks clicking and the old door groan as it was opened. I didn't even bother to open my eyes knowing it was just Rufus making sure I wasn't dead.

"I thought you'd like to know I'm in the possession of something quite valuable." I opened my eyes and stared at the casual expression of this psychopath.

"What do you mean?" I asked dreading the answer, There's only one reason he'd be informing me about anything, and that is something I've trying hard not to think about.

"Well it seems a couple of 'guests' have come to stay with us." Before another word could be said I was on my feet and I was advancing towards him. I ignored the pounding in my head the fact that the room was beginning to spin. I shoved him up against the wall, anger boiling in every fiber of my being.

"You said you wouldn't lay a finger on her." I was ready to attack him though I knew it'd be no good. He smiled as though we were just two people having a polite conversation. "I said I wouldn't take her I never said anything about her coming to me."

"What?"

"Oh yes, The Chosen One and a friend of hers snuck in tonight, some sort of rescue mission I suppose. They're currently a few rooms down." I couldn't speak Rufus was capable of unspeakable things and Shai being the Chosen One made her fate a million times worse. Rufus walked passed me and out the door, locking it. Fears controlled my thoughts and anger commanded my actions. I pounded on the door screaming for him to let her go and to leave her alone. The room began to spin so violently I had to sit down. Dizziness swept across me and I found it hard to keep my eyes open. My greatest fear as I finally slipped into unconsciousness was that Shai would do what Rufus expects her to do, sacrifice herself to save everyone else. I wanted to believe she'd be smart and keep herself alive, but I knew that she'd rather die for who she was than let anyone else get hurt.


	18. Chapter 18

Fabian's POV

Thunder and lightning filled the heavily overcast sky. Torrential rain caused flooding basically everywhere. I sighed. I've been watching the storm and waiting for the past two hours for Shai to come downstairs so I could talk to her, so far nothing. At first I just figured she was mad at me, but now I'm having my doubts.

I went upstairs and knocked on her door. "Shai can I talk to you for a few minutes." She didn't answer. "Shai it's important please just open the door." Dead silence. Finally I gave up negotiating and just decided to go in. "Shai I-" I stopped mid-sentence. The room was empty.

I knew instantly what she was doing, but I tried to give myself false hope that she was smarter than that. She wouldn't be stupid enough to go look for Nina. I proved myself wrong. I was about to leave and go look for her when I noticed her laptop sitting on her bed. I powered it on and brought up her history. My false hope was dashed when I started going through the last website she was on. An information site about an old jail house just beyond the park. When I checked the time there was no doubt she had done exactly what I wished she didn't. She had visited the site at quarter to three in the morning, if that didn't say late night rescue attempt I don't what did.

I knew intuitively that Shai was at the jail house, most likely Nina, and as much as I hoped he wasn't Rufus was probably there too.


	19. Chapter 19

Shai's POV

Ethan's been trying to open the door for the past hour. Nothing. I have to admit I was impressed, four-hundred years old and the jail was still determined to keep it's prisoners inside. "Are you done?" I asked when Ethan finally threw his head back in frustration. He nodded and motioned for me to try. I stood and instead of futilely attacking the door I began pacing the interior of the room. "What are you looking for?" Ethan clearly didn't understand my line of thinking, which is what made my plan appear just that much more likely to succeed. "Fire damage." I said flatly I wasn't completely sure but I had a suspicion that Rufus was monitoring us, and until I was positive that Rufus wasn't watching I couldn't execute my plan.

I sat down next to Ethan and explained my plan in a low whisper. I looked straight ahead as I talked hoping that Rufus wouldn't be suspicious.

"Renovation to the jail house was stopped before they got to the basement. Which means that all the fire damage is still here. Including the fact that a small section of the ceiling caved leaving a hole, or to us and escape route." I motioned to a darkened section of the ceiling in the back right corner of the room. "Someone, probably Rufus, put something over it to cover it up, but it should still work."

Ethan barley moved at all as I explained my idea but I knew he was listening. "How do we get up there?" Happy that he didn't consider me crazy I explained the last detail of my plan. "Fire damage. Parts of the wall fell away leaving a fairly easy climb if you look for it." The plan seemed solid except for one thing we needed Rufus distracted.

"He's been watching us," I quickly stated. "That's the only way he could've known were my mom lives, or that we were planning to break her out." Ethan nodded. "When do we get out of here?"

"Simply," I said. "When Rufus leaves." But, it wouldn't turn out to be simple. For the next ten minutes Ethan and I strained to hear if Rufus was still in the building. He was, we heard him walking around, cursing at nothing, and even just talking to himself.

"Damn, he's a whack job." I heard Ethan say behind me, I couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up." I said.

I told you not to do this

I nearly jumped a mile when the sound of the little girl's voice met my ear drums. I turned and stared in shock at the small spirit before me. "Sarah, what are you doing here?" She looked confused. "I was summoned." I looked at Ethan and I was surprised, he was looking at Sarah too, he could see her?

"We didn't summon you." Ethan said it simply, had he summoned her before?

"Something did." Sarah's voice was strangely clear. It had always been a little soft and fuzzy in my dreams.

"I did." I jumped again at the voice behind me. Rufus stood in the doorway. I hadn't even heard him open the door.

"Rufus I-" Sarah never bothered to finish, she dispersed into thin misty air.

"It's a shame," Rufus mused, "She could be such a powerful spirit if the right force was controlling her." He trailed off and then he seemed to notice Ethan and me.

"Well I came to see if you'd like to see your mother before she is eliminated." I stared dumb founded. "What?" He smiled at my amazement and surprise. "Well now that you're here she's practically useless to me, so I was wondering if you'd like to see her." Before I could even answer Rufus grabbed my arm and began pulling me towards her door. Ethan trailed a step behind looking weary of Rufus' sudden sense of empathy. He came up to the door and released my arm. I saw his thoughts in his casual movements, he knew we wouldn't try to escape. He simply slid the bolt lock open and undid the chain.

I stood in the doorway paralyzed, unable to move for a nanosecond.

"Mom?!"


	20. Chapter 20

Shai's POV

"Mom?!"

She turned at the sound of my voice. I rushed forward and encased her in a bone crushing hug. I'm pretty sure I was suffocating her, I knew she was suffocating me. "Are you okay?" She said automatically. "What happened? Did Rufus do anything to you? Who's that?" I'm pretty sure you already know she babble. "Mom I'm fine. Rufus caught us and no he didn't hurt us. And this is umm," I paused not knowing how to explain the situation I put my friend in. "This is Ethan my friend." She wasn't buying my vague explanation. "And?" Thanks to her I don't lie very well, which makes it pretty hard to fool her. "Ethan is my Osirion." I said quietly. Ethan stood at my side, he tried lightening the mood. "And not a very good Osirion obviously." I almost smiled then I remembered what Rufus had told me.

"Mom, he's going to kill you. He told me he was." She shook her head. "No, he needs leverage Shai. He knows that threatening to hurt me will get you to do things that you wouldn't otherwise even dream of doing." I nodded. The plan was cleaver and evil, it screams Rufus. We heard him coming and I knew that our time was short. "Listen," Mom said dead serious. "Rufus won't hurt me, but he will hurt you. I need you to get out of here and don't look back, okay." I nodded despite myself. I didn't want to agree but I knew I had to. Rufus opened the door and she hugged me tightly. "Run on two." She whispered. I was confused but I knew the advice would work.

"Alright time to go." Rufus said opening the door. He sounded impatient. Mom didn't release me and Ethan stood close by weary.

"I said we have to leave." He stepped forward, but none of us moved. "Time to leave." His voice was galvanized steel. When yet again none of us even blinked. He got angry.

"One," His voice was hard. He took threatening steps forward closing the distance between us, fast.

"Two." Before He could even think about three I felt Mom push me forward slightly.

Run on two

I did I grabbed Ethan and I didn't look back. We bolted down the hallway and up the stairs. We sprinted through the front door into the pouring rain.

We heard a gunshot.

Ethan pulled me along we continued on down the dirt road towards the park. I slipped and sloshed in the thick mud. Rain and warm tears blurred my vision. My body was numb. The only thing that kept me going was Ethan's firm grip on my hand pulling me along. When we got to the park I released him and I collapsed.

I lay on the ground and I sobbed. I felt Ethan's hand on my shoulder.

"He shot her. He shot her. He shot her." I just kept repeating it. I sat up and I felt Ethan's arm wrap around my shoulders. "It's gonna be okay." I heard him murmur quietly. I shook my head it wasn't going to be okay, Rufus shot my mother. Nothing was going to be okay.

"Shai." I looked up and I saw the dark outline of someone walking towards us. It didn't take me long to place the voice.

"Great." I muttered.


	21. Chapter 21

Rufus' POV

I examined the wound on my shoulder. Bleeding but manageable. As I cleaned the injury I kept glancing at one of the few monitors I had set up for surveillance. The screen on the bottom right occupied most of my thoughts. I stared at the limp unconscious form that lay on the cement floor of the room the video depicted. I smiled and resumed my task.

That's one problem off my list, for now.

I glanced at the screen next to the first and I was suddenly angry.

The three of them had had a plan, but how? They only even saw each other once, and I was closely watching them that whole time. How had they managed to come up with a successful idea when barley anything had been said.

I shook my head. I considered knowledge that I should have thought about in the first place. The Chosen One was too clever to keep around, I need to get the ceremony over with and dispose of that whole blasted family, and soon.

Inevitably I thought of the escape. One second I had it all under control, the next those damn kids were running and gaining distance. I pulled out a gun, big mistake, Nina pried it from my grasp and held it out ready to shoot me. I should stop underestimating the little bitch, I called out her bluff and the next thing I knew she put a bullet in my shoulder. I looked at the monitor again, she got what she deserved.

I leaned back in my chair and contemplated my next course of action. I smiled when the idea came to me. I would have to summon a spirit, but then again I could very influential when I wanted to be especially when someone wanted that child dead as much as I did.


	22. Chapter 22

Ethan's POV

Shai wasn't very good with letting other people walk into danger. It took me five minutes to realize this. Thirty seconds after her dad was out of view Shai began shewing on her bottom lip and fidgeting with the chain that hung around her neck.

After her dad found us sitting in the rain we immediately explained everything. He decided to go up and check things out for himself leaving us to do nothing except getting help if it was needed.

About 10 minutes of her worrying and I was just about sick of it. "Shai please knock it off. You're giving me an anxiety attack just watching you." She stopped chewing her lip but she kept on playing with her necklace. "What's the deal with your necklace? You wear it like everyday." She shrugged, again. "Why do you do that? It seems like whenever I ask you anything about before you came here you just shrug and ignore it." She stayed silent for a minute. Then, "What do you want to know?" I'll admit it I was shocked. Finally I repeated my earlier question. "What's with your necklace?"

"Mom gave it to me on my last birthday, she said it was really special and important. Especially lately it seems right to keep it with it me." I nodded.

"What's your favorite color?"

She laughed. "I'm opening up to you and that's what you ask." I nodded smiling. "Blue." She said. Once again I was at a loss for questions. She took that as an opening for another sarcastic comment. "What, are you contemplating how to ask me what my favorite movie is? Now you're getting into the personal stuff." I laughed along with her. I'll admit it, it was nice to laugh after the tension of the last few days.

"Now you've got me curious. What is your favorite movie?"

"It depends. My favorite cartoon is the Spongebob Movie, my favorite comedy is Get Smart, my favorite horror movie is Asylum, and I love every Indiana Jones movie." (A/N-By the way I do absolutely love all of those movies especially Spongebob)

"Way to disappoint, I was expecting you to say something that would have made me judge your sanity." I said rolling my eyes. "Why?" She said smiling. "Everything else you've done so far has made me think your mental stability is somewhere between requiring restraints in a sedative chair and Jade." She shoved me slightly and laughed. After a pause she asked her first question. "What's it like?"

"Being in a sedative chair? It's scary at first but once they put you under-"

"No, not that. I'm not even going to ask about that. I mean what's it like having a sister?" I paused a bit caught off guard. "Well it depends, Jade's even less stable than you, but a normal sister is probably okay. I mean you fight, argue, threaten, and then fight some more, but the good out weighs the bad in most cases." She smiled and leaned against the trunk of the tree we were sitting under.

"I've always wanted a sister, I 'd even settle for a brother." I pretended to look offended. She rolled her eyes. "It'd be nice to be able to talk to someone about everything even if they're a little younger or older than you." She said softly.

"Isn't that what friends are for?" I asked leaning back against the tree, we were pressed shoulder to shoulder. She shook her head the kept looking down and playing with her necklace again as she talked.

"I'm not very good at making friends." She said avoiding my eye. I laughed, "My methods aren't exactly normal either. I mean I nearly killed you when we met, but now we're committing B and E's and running form a 120 year-old man, you know typical best friend stuff." She laughed and met my eye.

I said nothing and I just stared back at her. Her eyes were bright green and they were filled with an emotion that wasn't evident on her features. Wind blew, tossing a few strands of her dark hair in her eyes. I leaned in and she did the same. We were a short breath apart when her phone buzzed. She turned away and opened her messages. The color drained from her face in a matter of seconds.

"Ethan we should go get help, now." Shai used the tree to pull herself up and she was starting to look anxious just standing there. "What happened?" Shai said nothing she just thrust the phone into my hands. I read the message and understood.

I've received another guest- R.Z


	23. Chapter 23

Shai's POV

We walked in silence for a while. Ethan said nothing as he led the way, and I kept my mouth shut as I tried to keep myself from thinking about how easy it would be for Rufus to hurt my parents at the moment. Finally a simple two story house came into view. The paint was white and the metal roof was a kind of grayish black. The skies were still overcast sending a strange gloom over the place. I stopped dead in my tracks, not because the place was a bit strange but because there was two cars in the driveway and one I recognized as the car that pulled up to the alley when we were attacked. I didn't want to face what was in front of me, I was going to get a lot of people involved and most of them were going to get hurt. I swallowed the guilt already welling up in my throat and I forged on, walking in Ethan's footsteps.

"Ethan, you're not dead, Thank God!" Jade was the first person to see us walking up to the house, thankfully. "I was afraid if you turned up missing they'd think I did it." Jade said as we walked through the front door. Jade's accent was a lot broader than Ethan's it was almost strange how different they sounded. Jade seemed to notice me for the first time. "Did you sneak out last night just to meet up with your new girlfriend?" She eyed me warily as though I was the reason not everything was right in the world. I felt my face flame, because I was angry and because I secretly wished that was the only reason we had been out last night. "No." Ethan said hotly, his face was red too. "Where's Mom and Dad, we need their help." Jade just rolled her eyes. "I don't know. They've been out looking for you all morning." She turned to me again. "They called your dad earlier to help but he never picked up." I nodded quickly. "Exactly, he was kidnapped, and if we don't do something soon he along with a lot of other people will die." Silence for a split second. "I'll call them." She said disappearing from the room, and that's what she did.

"Ethan you're okay!" I watched as Ethan's parents walked into the house about ten minutes later. (A/N- I forgot when I first wrote the story to say who the parents were for each child. Shai-Fabina, Ethan, Jade-Peddie, Kiara, Alex-Amfie, Sophie-Jara, David-Moy) I watched as they hugged Ethan and immediately began to question him about last night. I stood next to Jade and I was silent as I watched. She touched my arm and when I looked at her she cocked her head towards a door. She walked to it and I followed her. When we were in the room and the door was closed behind us I instinctively looked for another exit, just in case she tried to kill me. But she didn't try to kill me instead she hugged me. "I'm sorry." She said releasing me. "I shouldn't have snapped at you. It's just Ethan's my little brother and my parents would kill me if I let anything happen to him."

"It's fine." I said. "I've put Ethan in some pretty bad situations the last few days." She nodded. "I know." She said, "Which is why I want to help you. I want to help you find your parents no matter what the adult say." Now it was my turn to smile.

"Thanks, that means a lot."

"No problem. I also know two other people who would be a big help."

"Who?" She just smiled and walked out the door.

A few minutes later she returned with Kiara and Alex. I was taken aback. Last time I saw Kiara I knocked her unconscious. Jade also had Ethan with her.

"I think we should let Kiara and Alex help too." Jade said. I nodded. We needed more people, though I wasn't adamant on other people getting hurt.

"Rufus used Kiara and may still be capable of using her. She should know what's going on. Alex too." Ethan said. I nodded.

"We're all in this together." I said. I remembered something and I put my right hand over my eye. They all looked confused. I rolled my eyes. "Just trust me." I said.

They all repeated my gesture and put their right hands over their eye. "Sibuna" I said

"Sibuna"They echoed.


	24. Chapter 24

Kiara's POV

The second we emerged from the room we were ambushed. Not really but our parents started asking a ton of questions. Ethan took over answering most of them, Shai wasn't a very good lair and the rest of us didn't know the answers.

I noticed Shai sitting in the corner staring off into space and playing with the chain around her neck. "Hey." I said plopping on the floor next to her. "Hey." She replied absently. Suddenly she turned to me with a questioning look on her face. "Do you remember anything form when you found Ethan and I at the library?" I shook my head, after I had woken up Mum and Dad had told me what had happened, but I couldn't remember anything. "No." I said.

"Hmm" Was her reply. "I suppose since you're involved now I should tell you what really happened." I sat there shocked. I hadn't really doubted the whole mugged story, what did really happen?

She explained. "When you came and got us from the library we were walking back to my dad's house. Suddenly you got really strange and started taking us down weird side streets and alleys. Then when we were in an alley with a dead end me and Ethan were about to turn around, but then you...umm" She trailed off. As she talked the memory began coming back to me. I remembered everything up until we were a short walk from the library, everything she said after that was new to me.

"What happened?" I asked, afraid. She rolled her long shirt sleeve up to reveal a healing wound on her shoulder. "You attacked us with a knife, I uh, had to knock you out before things got to bad." She looked embarrassed but I just hugged her.

"Thank you for knocking me unconscious." I said sincerely. She laughed.

Without warning a weird pressure set into my head. It was making my head hurt and my body feel numb. The room began to subside into blackness. I recognized the feeling. It was the same sensation I got when I blacked out while I was walking home a few days ago. I fought it, I didn't want to hurt my friends. "Kiara?!", Shai's voice was filled with worry. "Help." I managed to choke out, "Please." She stood and walked into the kitchen where the adults were talking with Ethan. And stopped dead in her tracks.

Shai's POV

I stopped dead, paralyzed. Ethan's parents were bent over and holding their heads, Kiara's were in a similar position.

"What's happening?" I said trying to keep calm. Ethan shook his head, perplexed. "I-I don't know. They just randomly started to flip." I heard a sharp scream from Kiara. Realization clicked in. "It's not random!" I shouted.

I ran out and took Kiara's hand forcing her to her feet. I released her hand but gripped her shoulders. "Please," I muttered. "Leave her alone." Her eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped to the ground. I knew that she was going to be okay, everyone else on the other hand...I turned to Sibuna, the rest of them had come into the living room to see the commotion. "We need to-" I was going to say help them but a low growl interrupted me. I turned towards the kitchen, all of the adults were staring at us with red eyes. They stepped forward all in sync. I wanted to run but I stayed glued to their intense gaze.

Another few steps forward this time not threateningly but with purpose. They reached us and grabbed a hold of Sibuna. A pair of hands firmly held my arms and kept urging me forward out the door. I didn't object, the others fought and yelled. I just continued on without any sign of protest. We were led out side and taken to the vehicles. As the others kept up their fight one thought stopped me from joining them.

Has Rufus done this to my parents?

Nina's POV

Fabian and I have been looking for a way out since about two hours ago. "This is hopeless." I said finally. Fabian was about to say something but he was cut off by the door opening. I watched as Ethan, Kiara, Alex, and Jade were shoved into the room. They were closely followed by Amber, Alfie, Eddie, and Patricia. The adults were red eyed and angry.

I scanned the crowd Shai wasn't among them. I turned to Fabian he didn't see her either.

Where is she? I mouthed. He just shook his head. He didn't know either. Suddenly Rufus came in he waved his hand over the group of red-eyed adults. They all slumped to the group, knocked out.

"Welcome back." He said to Ethan. Ethan shot up like a spring and, to everyone's surprise began to scream at Rufus.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?! WHERE IS SHE?!" Rufus smiled as though Ethan was joking. He simply walked out without another word, locking us in. Ethan stood stock still.

"What happened?" I said quietly. Ethan didn't hear me. "What happened?" I repeated. He turned to face me, his eyes momentarily landing on his parents, still on the floor.

"We pulled up to the jailhouse. Let our parents take the rest of us, but...he took Shai. I-I don't know where he put her or anything." He looked scared, angry, and just plain sad as he told us. I knew the feeling, I was experiencing it myself as he talked. "She'll be fine, for a little while at least." Fabian said. "He needs her for something, and seeing as how he hasn't killed all of us, he needs her alive." I nodded hoping he was right.

A loud scream echoed throughout the cold cement prison, proving him wrong.


	25. Chapter 25

Ethan's POV

The scream made me jump and my heart leaped to my throat. When the sound ceased there was dead silence, no one wanted to do anything. I didn't blink and I hardly breathed for a full minute.

He's killing her, he's killing her. The words played over and over in my head. These thoughts reminded me about early this morning when we had ran from the same jail I was in now.

_He shot her, he shot her,_

Shai kept on repeating those words as if the meaning would change if she said it enough.

Wait. I turned to look behind me and I saw Shai's parents standing stock still. _Both _of her parents. Rufus didn't shoot Shai's mother. I suddenly really really wanted to tell her. I imagined how she'd take the news. She'd smile and be so relieved, she would be able to think clear and get us out of here. I smiled to myself as I thought about it, I liked when she was like that, able to keep a clear head in situations and come up with a plan. I liked her anyway, she was protective and sassy and brave. I was beyond sad when I remembered I might never see her alive again.

"You okay?" Jade asked sitting next to me. I nodded. "Yeah, I was just kidnapped by my parents, got my friends taken hostage, and now Shai's being tortured. Today's a winner." I said in a glum low whisper. She rolled her eyes.

"Aren't you her protector? Shouldn't you be, you know, protecting her?" She said her voice equally low. I shook my head. "That's just it! How am I supposed to protect her when I can't even keep you or mom and dad or even them safe?" I asked motioning to a silent Kiara and Alex.

"Listen," She said with surprising emotion. "We're not your priority. We're not the ones Rufus is hurting." She cocked her chin towards the door. "She is. So you better figure out a way to save her and the rest of us are going to help."

"Why do I have to come up with the plan?" I said without much passion.

"Because you've been involved longer than the rest of us, plus saving the Chosen One is kind of your job." I looked at Jade and she looked at me. She was right about everything, I knew that perfectly well. So I relented. I got to my feet. "Fine." I said. Jade, to my surprise, hugged me.

As Jade hugged me I remembered what Shai had said about wanting a sister. I looked at the rest of Sibuna and I smiled. We weren't her siblings, but we were closer than that. We weren't her friends, but we'll be there for her. But we are Sibuna, and we're going to get her out of this alive.

"Okay guys we can't just wait here we need to do something." I said. It was needless. Kiara and Alex were already waiting to hear what had to be said and Shai's parents were watching intently. I hadn't thought about what to say but as I talked a plan took shape in my mind.

"Rufus needs us for something. If he didn't he would've killed us by now. I say we exploit that reason and use it to get all of us out of here." Before I could continue Kiara interrupted me.

"Yeah, but what is that reason?"

"I don't know." I admitted. "But, we will figure it out and we'll work with it." A second scream shattered the air. Sharper than before and louder. I tried hard to keep calm. "And we need to do it soon." I concluded, my ears still echoing from the sound of her misery.

Shai's POV

I thought back to about an hour ago. It already seemed like such a long time.

Rufus had grabbed me out of the car and pulled me along through the front door instead of the back were the others were being taken. I tried to pull away from Rufus but he kept his grip and he continued to push me along. I was forced into a dull square room like the rest of them, but this room wasn't a cell, it was above ground and on a simple desk in the corner of the room there was a set of monitors.

So he was watching us, I thought to myself. I looked around the room to get a better bearing of my cage. There was no windows and the room was nearly identical to the rest with nothing different except for the security. Then I noticed something strange, the door had no locks on it. No locks, and nothing blocking it. Strange. Despite the fact that the escape would be almost too simple for it to be an accident I tried the doorknob.

"Going somewhere?" I nearly had a heart attack when Rufus stepped out of the shadows and blocked the doorway.

I was about to say no when I noticed the white bandages on his shoulder. "What happened to you?" I asked. He paused. "Your mother decided she wanted save you, so she shot me." I couldn't help it, I laughed.

"DON'T YOU DARE LAUGH AT ME, CHILD!" He stepped forward in his fit if rage and I instinctively stepped back. He calmed himself down before turning on me again. "I suggest you be cooperative while you're hear if you value the safety of your friends and family." I said nothing. It was smarter that way.

"The songbird finally shuts up." My heartbeat went up a couple notches when I heard the chilly comment behind me. I turned around and I saw someone I didn't see before. He was wispy and fragile looking almost like smoke. It was then that I realized he looked like Sarah, he was a spirit. I watched as Rufus walked towards him calmly. My fear multiplied. He was just a spirit, he was a spirit working for Rufus. The spirit's gaze fixed on me and he began making his way to where I stood. I finally backed up against the wall. There was nowhere else to go.

"So this is what the Gods gave to the world. A skinny, weak willed, 15 year-old girl." I didn't like how close he was to me. Even though he was dead his eyes were very much alive and they were dancing with anger and blood lust. "You're almost as pitiful as that sniffling King Tut I was forced to eliminate. He was a stupid Chosen One too." I suddenly realized who stood before me the Pharaoh Aye. He proceeded King Tut after he was killed. And he also ordered the murder of the boy king. (A/N-I read all of this information in a James Patterson book, I'm not sure how much is true.)

"You'll have your chance, Aye. I need her for now." Aye's face contorted with rage for a split second then they smoothed over. "Very well. But for the Chosen One a single glimpse at the pain she will endure after you are through with her." Aye grabbed my wrist at first ice seemed to coat my skin. Cold settled into my body making my bones shiver. The chill was soon replaced with immense heat. The ice was replaced with lava burning into me melting me down to nothing. A sharp scream escaped my throat and tears welled up in my eyes. "Enough." I heard Rufus bark. Aye released me and the pain subsided. Without another word Aye walked through me and the wall behind me taking my breath with him.

Air wouldn't return to my lungs and dark spots danced before my vision. I dropped to my knees unable to stand and then I collapsed to the floor. Reality swayed and I was pulled into the mercy of darkness, I was safe. For now.


	26. Chapter 26

Shai's POV

That night I dreamed of the spirit pharaoh Aye. My first dream was in a large spacious room filled with still warm summer air. I nearly screamed when I saw what was going on in the room. A large shadowy figure was looming over a state-sized bed. A seemingly fragile form lay obviously unconscious under the thin covers. All at once my subconscious filled in all the blanks. I was in the bedroom of the young injured King Tutankhamen, the figure by his bedside was the killer sent here to do Aye's dirty work of killing the weak Pharaoh. I watched as the killer knelt next to the sleeping king. The killer held his hands high above the head of the King in his hand he held a club of some sort, to anyone just walking by it would look like someone praying beside the sick king, I knew the sinister purpose behind his seemingly charitable actions. Maybe he won't go through with it, I thought. Maybe he can't do it.

I was wrong.

The man brought the club heavily down to meet the skull of the Boy King. I heard the crack of stone and bone, closely followed by a sharp groan of pain. The killer hit him over and over, the life slowly draining from the dying Pharaoh. I screamed but no sound escaped. I stared at the crimson puddle now dripping off the side of the king's bed. I wanted to throw up. I managed to get to my feet, my eyes still glued to the now successful murderer. I slowly trailed along the walls until my hands found the handle of a door. I thrust it open and stumbled into the warm desert air. I looked at my surroundings. I was standing on a stone balcony, below me was a lush garden filled with so many tropical plants and fruits that I hardly recognized most of them. Suddenly the whole Earth took a violent jolt and threw me off balance. I quickly grabbed the rail of the balcony, but I wasn't quick enough. The world spun again this time tossing me over the railing. Once again no sound escaped as I screamed, hurtling toward the solid ground beneath me.

I hit the ground with only enough force to knock the breath out of me. What I felt below me wasn't stone like I had anticipated, I felt warm sand. I opened my eyes, instead of the inky star-shot sky that I had seen a mere five seconds ago, I was looking at bright disk shaped sun and a blue afternoon sky. I looked around me, I was surrounded on all sides by hills of rolling sand. Nothing in any direction.

I pushed myself to my feet but I was nearly knocked down again by a deep rumbling that caused the sand to slid and collapse nearly taking me with it. In the general direction of the noise a dust cloud rose twenty in the air. Dark forms began to take shape in the cloud. I walked closer to get a feel of what was going on. As I approached I saw exactly why this scene from Aye's life was being shown to me.

The figures I saw weren't just dozens or even hundreds of men, they were thousands of men, fighting for their countries. I watched as blood was shed and soldiers fighting for what they believed was right fell victim to an arrow, spear, or sword. My breath hitched as I watched a young boy probably not a year older than me drop to the ground an arrow stuck deep into his chest. His eyes flickered open and landed on me.

"Are you here to bring me to the afterlife?" He spoke Ancient Egyptian but somehow I knew exactly what he was saying. I looked around at the fighting that surrounded me. No one seemed to be paying any attention to me or the young warrior. I returned my gaze to him, he looked at me hopefully. I bent down next to him and I didn't even bother to look at the arrow in his chest, I knew it couldn't be helped. He still looked at me expectantly as though I was supposed to do something special. When I stayed silent he spoke. "Da mihi virtutem." He said quietly. "What?" I asked. "Give me the power." He said, as though it was common knowledge. He kept repeating it over and over. I chanted with him.

"Da mihi virtutem."

"Da mihi virtutem."

He silently mouthed the phrase one last time before shutting his eyes and he let out one last shuttering breath as he died, one of many to die that day. I cried, I cried for the lost life of someone so young, I cried for his family and the ones who cared for him.

The world began to spin once again and this time I closed my eyes just hoping what I saw next wasn't as bad as this.

I'm not sure if I got what I wanted.

I woke up on the cold cement of the jail. I felt the evidence of tears on my face but I found it hard to care. I had seen the death of two young lives and I wasn't keen on seeing another. I took a deep breath and I sat up. "You are as weak as I thought." I didn't even bother to look up at the sound of the spirit King's voice. "Look at me child." I glanced up to meet his dark angry eyes. "Why do care so much for these people?" He asked looking at the monitor that showed my friends and family.

"Why do you seem to not care about anyone?" I asked back. His gaze hardened over and anyone sane would've backed away. I was far from sane and my pride and anger usually got the better of my judgment.

"You won't last, you'll die just like the rest of them and leave behind a Chosen One more pathetic than you." I stayed silent until he left and then I got angry.

_I'm not pathetic._

I looked at mom through the screen,

_She's not pathetic_

_I'm going to prove it,so you better watch out._


	27. Chapter 27

Ethan's POV

"Do you see anything?" I called up to Alex who was searching one of the four corners of our cell. "Nothing." He called back down. "Then it has to be in one of the other corners." I said, frustrated. "We've already checked the other ones, seven times, in the last 30 minutes." My sister Jade sounded beyond done with this, but I knew at least at the moment she'd relent to my ideas.

"It has to be here." I said. "We've searched everywhere. Where else could he have hidden it." My mom said, softly. About an hour ago the four adults that were possessed and who kidnapped us woke up. After filling them in they immediately began to help.

At the moment we were looking for security cameras. Last time I was in here Shai had a sneaking suspicion that Rufus was monitoring us, I have a feeling she was right.

It was a bit hard to look for cameras with all the other people in the room. Me, Jade, Kiara, Alex, My Mom and Dad, Kiara and Alex's mom and dad, and Shai's mom and dad. That equals ten people in a roughly 20 by 10 foot cement room with no windows and barley any light, yeah it's a blast.

_Where else could he have hidden it?_

The question rang through my head and I tried to answer it like Shai would. She had a way of making the craziest things make sense. And also making sense out of the craziest things. "It depends," I said finally. "Does Rufus want us to find it?" while I was thinking everyone had sat down in a kind of prisoners' campfire circle. I asked my question and joined them sitting between Alex and Jade. Shai's mom spoke up first. "Everything Rufus does is intentional. If he doesn't want it to happen it won't. At least that's how he likes it." I liked Shai's mom, though I've only known her for 24 hours. She had Shai's line of thinking which really helped at the moment.

"So, what would Rufus gain from us finding a security camera?" I asked my fellow prisoners. I was surprised when Jade spoke up, "False reassurance. A fake security camera could make us reveal our plans and he would be one step ahead." I nodded, impressed, it made sense.

"Any reason he _wouldn't _want us to find a camera?" I asked.

"He only has one, and he can't afford to stop watching us." Shai's dad said after a pause. I nodded.

"Okay, so which option is more beneficial to Rufus?" We all were lost in deep thought. As I thought I was staring at the cement stone walls. Then, I noticed something. The cement was covered in soot and small fissures in the stone were visible.

_That would've been perfect for climbing if we were in the other room._

Then,

_Wait a minute._

"Fire damage." I said quietly, so quietly no one heard me. "Fire damage." I said again, louder this time. I received only a few confused looks.

"Last time I was in here Shai had the idea that we might be able to climb out using the holes in the walls and the one on the ceiling."  
"But there's no holes on the ceiling.." Dad said.  
"I know, I'm not saying that's what we should do, I'm saying Rufus was monitoring us, he might have used that idea to hide a security camera."

"So...Fire damage?"

"Fire damage." \

We all got to work checking every inch of fire damage in the cell. After about five minutes I felt the cool smooth metal that had been watching us. "Found it!" I called. I pulled the camera out of the hole.

The camera was a black disk made of smooth cool metal. Wires were connected to various holes around the outside of the disk, and in the center was a circle of dark light, most likely the lens. "I've never seen anything like this." I said quietly. No one else spoke but after a minute Dad took the disk out of my hands and chucked it at the wall. It shattered with a satisfying crash. "Now all that's left to do is get out of here." Kiara said optimistically. "How do we do that?" Alex asked before anyone else could.

Ummm

Everyone else seemed to be thinking the same thing. We all sat down again

Back to square one.


	28. Chapter 28

Shai's POV

Is worse to spy on your parents or to be angry with them while you're doing it?

I sat in the chair in front of the monitors, the chair that was probably usually occupied by Rufus. Thank God neither Rufus or Aye was anywhere near here. I was keeping my attention locked on the only screen that showed people. The camera was set at a weird angle, like it was embedded into the wall. I ignored that and instead turned my focus on the people on the screen, mostly the adults. I first watched Ethan's parents and I got angry, slightly. They were talking quietly talking together, and searching for something barely staying 5 feet away from each other. I then shifted my attention to Kiara's parents. The were walking side by side and holding hands, scanning the room. Biting my lip I glanced at my parents. I spotted my Mom close to the camera, I was overjoyed when I realized she hadn't been shot, but now I'm almost angry at her. Mom was running her fingers along the cement stone, and Dad was on the other side of the room doing something similar. When they crossed each other they didn't even share a passing glance, when they stood next to each other I noticed they stayed some distance apart.

I was suddenly mad, no furious.

It wasn't always like that.

I couldn't help but remember times when it wasn't like that, before Dad left.

I was so lost in my thoughts I almost didn't catch the monitor going black. I caught it out of the corner of my eyes and I was back in front of the screens confused.

"What the-" I tried to bring up the footage when I realized that the camera was just showing not recording.

_What use is the camera really?_

I asked myself. Rufus has to have something planned, What is it?

Ethan's POV

**Click**

**Click**

**Click**

**Click**

"Knock it off." I said sharply to Alex. "What, I haven't done anything yet." He said, confused. "What's that clicking noise?" I asked.

"Oh, you hear it too? Thank God, I was getting worried that I was going insane." Jade said.

"More so than usual." I said. She scowled.

**Click**

**Click**

"There it is again." I said getting annoyed.

"It's coming from the camera debris." Kiara said. I stood up and went to the pile of multicolored wires and shattered metal. There was another disk in the center of the pile this one smaller and totally black except for a circle of blue light in the center. I bent down to pick it up, it made the weird clicking sound one more time and a square grid of blue light shot from the disk and rotated around the room, scanning everything. When it was done the light disappeared and the disk went totally black.

"That was strange." My understatement of the day. I crunched the strange machine under my shoe.

"Anyone suddenly have an idea how to get out of here?" I asked.

"Actually," Kiara said. " I do."

Shai's POV

The door opened as I was still trying to figure out the whole security camera thing. "Curious are you?" Rufus asked. I jumped back from the screens, a bit scared. His eyes landed on the black screen. He briskly walked over to the desk and he began to check the wires on the back and the sides.

"What did you do?" He said his voice shaking with anger and I wanted to retreat but there was nowhere to go.

"What did you do!?" His anger was barley contained this time. "I didn't do anything." I squeaked. "Then why is the monitor broken!?" He yelled. "I don't know, it just shut off." I whispered. His face flushed with anger and this time he couldn't hold it in. He slapped me, hard. The force knocked me off my feet and Rufus kicked me hard in the side. I bit my bottom lip to keep from yelling out in pain.

"Useless bitch!"He yelled. I stayed on the floor. My head throbbed and every breath caused pain to spiderweb through my ribcage.

"I'm going to make sure you pay for that." He hissed at me. I heard him leave. But I didn't move, the slightest motion caused me to want to cry out in pain. So I laid motionless, trying hard not to imagine what Rufus is going to do now.


	29. Chapter 29

Shai's POV

**Click**

**Click**

I opened my eyes and scanned the room. The monitor was still black and there was nothing else in the room to make any noise.

Or so I thought.

**Click**

This time the noise was followed by a flash of light from the front right corner of the room. I stood to go check it out. The flashes of blue light kept causing me to go temporarily blind. My curiosity pulled me forward like a moth to firelight. When I was in arms length of the light a voice called me away.

"Shai, I need your help." I turned to face Ethan. He stood in the center of the room. I noticed he kept his distance as I got closer, taking small steps back for every step I took forward.

"What's wrong?" I asked afraid.

"I need you to participate in the ceremony. We're dying you need to take part in the ceremony to save us." I stood there shocked. Unable to speak. I heard footsteps and Ethan heard them too.

"I have to go." Before another word could be said by either of us he was gone.

I woke up with a start. Rufus didn't give me a second glance, he just continued to mess with the screen.

I thought back to the fact that Ethan was my Osirion, could he have been sending me a message.

"What's the ceremony?" I asked before I could think it through. He had to look at me for a minute before answering. "The ceremony that will keep you and your friends alive."

"Are you saying you'll kill me if I don't?"

"No, I'm saying that I'll be one of many who'll kill you if you don't." I stiffened involuntarily. "What do I have to do with this?"

"The blood of a member of the Paragon is the highest valued sacrifice."

"So what would I have to do to keep everyone alive?"

"Like I said, blood is an ideal sacrifice." I nodded. "I'll do it." I stood but he shook his head, "Not now, later, I'll be here when it's time."

Ethan's POV

"Kiara you're a genius!" I said as the door opened. She smiled. "I try." We all filed into the hallway, it took me a minute to realize everyone was staring at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked.

"What do we do now?" A few voices asked.

"Umm, we split up and search the place, if you find Shai get everyone else. Do not face Rufus alone." I received a couple of nods and we all went our separate ways. Almost everyone started searching the other cells. Something was pulling me above ground. I followed my gut, it's gotten me this far.

I went upstairs and I began to search the rooms upstairs. "Hello?" I whispered into yet another empty room. "Any deranged sociopath walking around?"

Nothing

I was about to just walk passed another door, but then I heard voices on the other side. I pressed me ear door. The voices were too muffled to make out. I dared to open the door an inch.

Inside I saw Rufus standing a foot in front of Shai with a knife in hand, he was chanting in some old ancient language. Shai held her hand out to him and he took it bringing the knife to meet her skin. I didn't think.

"Shai don't do it!" I yelled as I threw the door open. A look of confusion crossed her face. "But you're the one who told me to." She said.

I shook my head, just as confused as her.

"I never told you to do anything, even if I did you wouldn't listen anyway." I said.

She turned to Rufus. "What's going on?" She asked.

Before Rufus could answer the sound of pounding feet entered the room. My yell had attracted the attention of everyone else and they were coming to our aid.

Rufus' POV

The boy had interrupted the ceremony, if that wasn't bad enough the others were coming. Before they could come up with an escape plan I grabbed the girl and I pulled a gun out of my coat. I pressed the gun to her head and clicked the safety off. The others stopped dead in their tracks afraid to be the cause of the girl getting shot.

"Smart." I said. "And if you want to continue being smart than you'll let me continue with the ceremony." I told them. The boy spoke up, angry.

"Over my dead body." He said.

I pointed the gun at his head. "That can be arranged." His eyes stared down the barrel of the gun. The girl let out a strangled cry that I could just make out as words. "Ethan, please, don't." His gaze shifted to her.

I'm Sorry-he mouthed. I was about to pull the trigger when the little brat elbowed me hard in the gut. I kept ahold of her long enough to run the blade over her palm. She cried out in pain. I grabbed a rag from my pocket and I wiped it over the wound.

"Leave all of you." I yelled at the group as I let the girl go. "I have the blood, I can finish the ceremony myself." And with that I pushed passed the group and I left the jail.

Ethan's POV

Rufus rushed from the jail as though it was on fire, which nowing him he was perfectly capable of doing at the moment. I turned my attention to Shai. She was holding her palm and staring at the floor. I walked up to her, "You okay?" I asked. She looked up at me and I couldn't read the expression on her face. I didn't have to wonder for long. She slapped me, hard.

"If you do something like that again I'll kill you myself." She yelled at me. Then just as suddenly she pulled me into a hug. I hugged her back tightly. "I thought he was going to kill you." She whispered. "I thought he was killing _you_." I whispered back to her. When we pulled apart I looked at her face and I noticed the start of purple and bluish bruise starting the form on her right cheek. "What happened?" I asked her. She just shook her head. "It's fine." She said.

Her mom came over and talked quietly to us.

"We're going back to Fabian's house so we can figure out what to do next." We nodded and we followed her as we exited the building. As we were walking back I reached out and grabbed her hand, our fingers intertwined and I saw her smile a little.


	30. Chapter 30

Shai's POV

I sat on the coffee table and Ethan sat next to me. We were in the center of my dad's living room and everyone else was sprawled throughout the space, some on the coach, some on the floor, and some leaning idly against the wall. Silence had passed between all of us for a good five minutes but regretfully it had to be broken.

"So what do we do now?" Kiara's dad, Alfie?, asked.

"Well Rufus said something about a ceremony? Shai-" Ethan said, turning towards me. "Do you know anything about that?" I felt almost overwhelmed with guilt. I wanted so badly to say no, but I had to be honest, if not for the situation at least for Ethan.

"Yes." I said finally. His expression didn't change at all, oh boy. I continued suddenly afraid of silence. Unexplained, assuming silence.

"Rufus manipulated my dreams somehow, he made me think that I needed to give blood to keep everyone alive. Only I think the ceremony is a lot bigger than that. When he was chanting I understood some. There was a lot of, 'connect the two worlds', 'let the bridge span', and 'may the hour be the doorway of the dead." I stopped at that point afraid of my own words.

"That could mean anything though," I said with a forced laugh. The looks I got proved the others didn't think that.

"Do you know what hour he meant?" Mom asked. I thought for a second.

"Midnight?" I said, more to myself than to the others. "You're sure?" Dad asked. I nodded, more certain with each passing second.

"Tonight's a full moon and that's part of the chant, it has to be tonight at midnight." Ethan took over with planning next, thank God.

"Rufus probably went into hiding until then to keep his plan from failing. Until around midnight we stay here and try to figure out where he'll be holding the ceremony." Everyone nodded their consent, which still kind of threw me. Ethan and I are 15, yet the adults are perfectly fine with us calling the shots, satisfying and strangely discomforting.

Soon Jade had managed to bring up satellite photos of the area on my computer, we were searching for an ideal spot for Rufus' ceremony. I glanced over at my parents, they were on other sides of the group. Neither looking at each other or talked like the other parents were. Once again I felt that surge of anger. I tensed up and Ethan, who was standing next to me, noticed. "You okay?" He asked. I nodded, not trusting my voice. Before anything else could be said Jade spoke up.

"I think I found it!" We all gathered around her to see. The satellite photo showed a large clearing surrounded by tall trees. "Not to be negative, but how is this clearing different from all the other ones?"

"Because," Jade began to explain. "This clearing is surrounded by about a mile of trees in every direction, isolation-"

"And I've been there before." Ethan interrupted. "The place is private property and the area used to be a grave yard but locals were afraid of flooding because the river ran downhill around there, they moved the headstones but they left the bodies, they thought it would be unnecessary work."

"Than I'm connived, I think that's were Rufus would hold the ceremony, a lot of spiritual energy." Once again everyone seemed okay with our decisions so we disbanded for the moment.

Me and Ethan sat on the coffee table again. "So do we really have a plan?" Ethan asked me. I shook my head. "I don't have a clue what were actually going to do to stop the ceremony." I admitted. "Shai-" Ethan said quietly. "In the jail you said that I had told you to give Rufus blood, right?"

I nodded.

"I think I know how Rufus manipulated your dream but there's one thing I still don't one-hundred percent understand. How come you were so willing to listen to me, or dream me I mean?" I hesitated. "Well it's not exactly like I said, dream you, didn't say everyone would die, he just said you and me would die. I was afraid, I didn't want that to happen so I listened to, dream you." He stayed silent and his attention strayed towards the corner behind me. I turned to see what he was looking at, I wish I hadn't it sent me over the edge. Ethan's parents were kissing in the corner. Before I had really decided what to do I had stood up and made my outside onto the porch. The anger was working double time, multiplying and growing into every fiber of my being. I wanted to break something and yell.

"Shai are you okay?" I heard Dad say behind me. I chewed on my thumbnail before answering, a nervous habit of mine.

"Why?" I asked quietly. He obviously didn't hear me so I asked again. "Why?" This time louder, showing some of the anger that was still growing.

"Why what?" I know I didn't clarify what I was asking but his obliviousness made me slightly angrier anyway.

"Why did you leave?" The question came out with force, knocking him off guard. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"You left us, why?" Realization dawned on him.  
"Shai this isn't the time to be having this conversation." He said keeping his voice down.

"No, anything you have to tell me you can tell me now."

"Shai, I left to protect you." He was trying hard to be quiet. I've always had a bad temper and I've also always been aware I got it from my Dad. My anger was barley in check the same could be said for him.

"What could you have had to protect me from, I was eight, Dad?"

"Shai, all of this is fairly new to you, but there were people like Rufus trying to get to you since you were born."

"And why did you think that leaving would solve that?" I was yelling now.

"We were hoping it would distract some people, it was safer Shai." He was yelling too.

"I don't care you left, missing half of my life, and I still ended up getting involved in all of this, did you guys ever consider that?"

"No we didn't, and it wasn't my fault we barley saw each other I tried to get you to come and visit all the time, why didn't you come then?"  
"Because I was angry, I wanted nothing to do with you, you left without warning making me believe I had done something wrong."  
It was after that last bout of yelling I noticed our fight had drawn a crowd. Everyone else was standing around the front door watching the shouting match.

"Shai-" Dad said, not yelling this time. I didn't want to stay I didn't want to hear what he had to say, and I didn't want to be the subject of all of the stares. I ran passed him and passed the crowd of people. I ran upstairs and I slammed my door shut. I sat down on my windowsill and I brought my knees to my chest. There was a knock on the door.

"I'm not in the mood for a lecture." I said as the door opened.

"Good, I'm not in the mood to give a lecture." Ethan said, sitting down on the other side of the windowsill.

"I thought you were Mom." I explained. "You okay?" Ethan asked for the second time that hour. I nodded. "Peachy." I said sarcastically.

"Well it must not be too bad if you can still be sarcastic." He joked, trying for a smile. I wasn't in the mood to smile and he seemed to understand that.

"So your Dad left when you were eight?" He asked.

"Yeah, one day it was fine and the next he's in England and I'm sitting there wondering what the hell I did wrong."

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"Yeah I did, I was born."

"That wasn't something you did wrong, nothing like that is your fault." He was strangely insistent I succumbed to it, I wasn't in the mood to argue too seriously right now.

A flash of lightning lit the sky and thunder shook the Earth, rain slashed the window and wind whipped the trees. Tears threatened and overflowed without warning. Ethan pulled me into a hug. I'm not sure how long we stood there, me crying into his shoulder, him holding me. When I finally stopped he released me and I sank down onto my bed, Ethan sat next to me. I noticed that Jade brought my laptop back up to my room. I grabbed my computer and brought up the satellite photos. "We need a plan." I said. He nodded. That's what we did we both agreed on splitting everyone into groups and advancing towards the clearing in separate parties. As we worked out the details of the plan I leaned my head on his shoulder. I smiled to myself and looked up to see him doing the same.

Kiara's POV

I looked at the clock

**10:15 pm**

"We should probably be heading out." Shai's Dad told us all.

"I'll go get Shia and Ethan." I said already halfway up the stairs. When I got to Shai's door I knocked and there was no answer. I opened the door and smiled to myself. Shai and Ethan were sitting on Shai's bed. Her head on his shoulder and his head leaned against hers. "Am I interrupting something?"

They both looked up and sprang apart. I rolled my eyes at their stuttered explanations. I turned and headed downstairs with them following a few steps behind. When we got in the vehicles I noted their sideways glances at me, I smiled again. And I began to search my brain for a couple name for them.


	31. Chapter 31

**Here we go the finale! I might split it into two parts but I don't know. Enjoy!**

Ethan's POV

I looked at the trees as we whipped passed. With each passing second I was growing more and more nervous, what if we were wrong and the ceremony's not there? What if Rufus is expecting us?What will happen if someone ends up dead?

I shook my head to stop the onslaught of thoughts. I couldn't help but wonder how different this passed week would have been if I hadn't agreed to help Shai. I never agreed to be shot at or to being kidnapped, I only agreed to help her find her mother.

_So why didn't you just quit? _(This part is Ethan fighting with himself inside his head so Italics is his mind and underlined is Ethan)

Because I'm her protector.

_Because you were afraid she wouldn't let you quit._

Because I didn't want to quit.

_Why didn't you want to quit you were basically dead from the start._

I didn't want her to face it all alone.

At that I glanced sideways at Shai. She was staring out the window like I was but I would bet money she wasn't having a shouting match inside her head.

_No, she already had a shouting match with her father._

You're an asshole you know that

I decided to stop there afraid for my own sanity. I went back to staring out the window so I would know when to tell Dad to stop.

"Stop here." I said about five minutes later. Dad pulled the car over to the side and we all climbed out. While we waited for the others to come Shai and I started going over the groups. When everyone else showed up we started telling everyone our plan.

"Okay so Ethan and I decided to keep Rufus from running away we need to put everyone into groups and we need to split up to cover all of the exits and entrances." Shai started. I picked up from there. "Kiara, Alex and Jade you guys are in a group and you'll be walking on the first trail towards the graveyard. All of the moms and all of the dads are in a separate groups and the you'll take the other two trails." Everyone nodded and started heading out. Shai and I waited until everyone was gone before we began our little hike.

"I don't see why we couldn't take a real trail" I said as we plunged into the treeline.

"This trail is nearly overgrown, Rufus may know about it and I think this is an edge we need." I just agreed with her, it was usually easier that day.

"So we sneak up on him to keep him from getting away and we somehow stop the ceremony." I clarified.

"Yes." She said with her smile that I loved.

Wow where did that come from?

_You can't even fool your own head._

Shut up!

"You okay?" She asked. "Why wouldn't I be?" I asked her avoiding her eye. "Well you're starting to freak me out." She stopped and imitated gestures and facial expressions I didn't know I was doing. "You were doing the same thing in the car." I laughed along with her, nervous at first, but then natural when I realized how stupid I probably looked. When we started walking again I couldn't help but think of the little argument with myself. What if I hadn't agreed to help? What if we had just found her mother and nothing else happened after that? What if I wasn't her Osirion would I still be willing to help her?

The last question I couldn't answer just yet, I wanted to have an answer, so I would know where my loyalties lay but I couldn't think of one.

"Shai?" I said after a minute of silence. "Yeah?" She had stopped and turned towards me. I hesitated on my answerer, why was it so hard to ask her this question.

_Because you're afraid of the answer_

That was the one thing I could agree with myself about. Finally I spit it out, "If you knew what was going to happen when you got here would you still have come?" She seemed taken aback.

"I-I-I'm not sure, I mean a lot of people I care about were nearly killed and I've learned some things that maybe I shouldn't know yet, I don't know what I would do." Her honesty wasn't lost on me, I appreciated it, but I was a bit disappointed.

We continued our trek in silence, maybe she noticed my disappointment, maybe she was uncomfortable herself, either way we both weren't much in the mood for talking by that point.

Shai stopped dead in her tracks and, not paying attention, I walked right into her. It was then that I noticed we were at the tree line. The former cemetery land was illuminated by the full moon's light. In the center of the graveyard I spotted Rufus' silhouette placing strange instruments around the ground. Then, he approached a large monument sort of pillar that held a respectful position in the dead center of the clearing. I watched as he drew strange symbols on the stone in an eerie red pigment. Across the clearing on the opposite side shielded by trees was the figures of the other Sibuna members and our parents. At that point everything became very real to me, this wasn't a game or even just a little challenge, this was a real life and death situation, people could get hurt and with me being the Osirion there was a good chance that I could be one of them. My watch beeped midnight and the beeping caught Shai's attention. I nodded at her unspoken question and she tensed up fully alert to what will happen next.

What did happen next was something that will give me nightmares for years to come, something that proved there were people out there who were so ruthless and cold that they had no regards for anything outside of their own selfish goals. Rufus motioned for something to be brought forward, what did come forward was shocking. A little boy probably no older than six or seven seemed to be walking out of the shadows. I didn't understand at first, it appeared that the boy was coming out to Rufus voluntarily, then I noticed darker shadows clung to the boys heels. A closer examination proved that the boy was being pushed along by shadows, wait not shadows dark spirits!

I turned to Shai I knew I was going to have a problem keeping her contained. Her eyes were hardened over with such an intense mixture of anger, determination, and absolute hatred. I saw her reposition herself, ready to sprint. I gripped her arm tightly.

"Don't."

"I can't just sit here and do nothing." Her voice was just as steely as her gaze and for a minute I was considering letting her go, but I didn't.

"Shai, we will do something, we won't let him get hurt but we need to be smart about this." She bit down on her lip, contemplating, finally she nodded. I released her, still I had to keep an eye on her.

I watched as Rufus grabbed the boy and pulled him towards the monument, the shadows dissolved as soon as the boy was out of their clutches. Rufus pushed the boy up against the stone and pulled a knife from his jacket. The boys cries and pleas could be heard from here, I had to try hard to keep from running out there myself. I failed...

The knife was a foot from the boy's skin and I just couldn't wait any longer. I ran out into the clearing and I shoved Rufus away from the boy. Shai had been right on my heels the whole time, and at the moment she was tending to the poor boy. I watched as he ran away, probably towards home. When Shai came to my side I registered that the others had come out of hiding and were advancing towards the center of the clearing.

"Ah, Chosen One, I've been expecting you." He said with a smile, but his voice held no sign of joy or even any sort of satisfied emotion. His voice held poorly concealed fury, the fury that has been growing since the moment we got involved in his plans, the fury that he would soon take out on Shai. And if he wanted to do that to her he'd have to get through me first.

**So yes when I was writing I decided to split it into two parts. The second part will be the finale's finale, and I'll be posting a last chapter after that with information about this story's sequel. Thank everyone for reading and I hope that you stick with me for one last chapter.**


	32. Chapter 32

**Yes this is the actual finale, needless to say it's going to be my longest and hopefully best chapter. Enjoy!**

Shai's POV

Rufus willing to hurt an innocent child made me want to wring his neck. I wanted to see him suffer in the worst way. Normally I'd be ashamed to be even thinking these things, I'm not the type to be filled with so much hatred, but for Rufus the exception wasn't even mulled over.

When Ethan ran out into the clearing I didn't hesitate to follow him. I watched as Ethan shoved Rufus away and I turned my attention towards traumatized boy.

"Hey, do you live near here?" Nervous nod. "Don't be afraid." I assured. "It's all over now, you're safe but you need to go home now, okay?" He didn't even pause to think, he just turned and sprinted far away. I faced Rufus and with some of that hatred threatening to overwhelm me, I shouted at him.

"You're a monster!" He simply smiled at my outburst, obviously in his mind I no longer posed a threat. Now that he had discovered my weakness he thought there was no way I could beat him.

_I'll prove you wrong_

I growled in my head. "I'm sorry Chosen One, I really expected more form you, at least more of a fight. Oh well, you people never fail to disappoint." At that he made a strange motion with his hand and suddenly shadows wrapped around Ethan pulling him out from between Rufus and me.

"Ethan!" I shouted. He was fighting against the spirits. I looked around to see the others in a similar situation, they were being dragged away by shadows and they were struggling hard to get free.

"Mom!" I shouted as a dark smoky hand closed over her mouth.

"Dad!" I cried as he was yanked to the ground.

Suddenly I felt a cold liquid-like feeling seeping into my legs and chilling me to the bone. I looked down to see shadows swirling around my feet, slowly creeping up my legs. I looked up and met Rufus' eye. "I'm glad, I'll have an ideal sacrifice for the spirit world. The door will be opened and I will have complete control over the dead."

The cool liquid feeling was now being replaced by burning pain, spreading through my veins like fire. I heard the crys of pain sounding from every angle as the others experienced the same hurt I was.

"Stop." It came out as a whimper first. I swallowed hard. "Stop." It came out firmer this time but not loud enough to attract the attention of Rufus. Meanwhile the shadows had spiraled to my waist. The pain was excruciating. It was by sheer force of will that I was even standing. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in.

"Da mihi virtutem." I whispered under my breath, remembering the chant of the fallen Egyptian warrior.

_Give me the power_ I cycled the words in my head. I noticed that after a moment the pain subsided. I felt a different kind of heat within me, a heat that seemed to reignite the strength lost from the spirits. The strength spread to my head. Making my senses lighter, keener. I was more aware of the suffering of the people around me, I was more sensitive to the light being illuminated from the moon and a different kind of light, a light that seemed to glow from my eyes themselves. Finally the strength grew so much more intense I had to release it somehow.

"STOP!" I shouted, throwing my hands up in frustration. Then my senses fell into oblivion.

Ethan's POV

As the spirits continued to circle around me I yelled out in pain. The fire in my body was beyond any sort of hurt I've ever felt before. I gritted my teeth and tried once again to regain my feet. This time I used a low hanging branch above my head for support. I managed to keep my footing and my vision focused so I could see exactly what was going on with the others. Shai stood in the clearing exactly where she had been when I was dragged away from her. This time a spiraling column of dark spirits was circling up her body. I heard her call out in pain like the rest of us. I felt the urge to help her, I wanted to, but the slightest movement on my part made my limps lock up and I almost collapsed.

"Shai." It was nearly a whisper. A strangled whisper.

Suddenly the spirits around her stopped swirling around her and the moon's light grew slightly more intense. A low glow emitted from the symbol Rufus had drawn on the stone, soon the glowing grew into a second sun the light was so blinding.

"STOP!" Shai's words came out in a roar, with a voice that was very unlike her own. It seemed to be a combination of hundreds of voices rolled into one. With a shudder I realized that I'd heard that voice once before, in the dream I had about Shai dying.

The shadows that surrounded me dispersed then vanished. I looked at the others, from my position I could see confusion and relief on every face as the same thing happened to them. My attention turned back to Shai, she stood tall and menacing in front of Rufus who looked ultimately shocked.

"Impossible." I heard him say. I took a few tentative steps toward them and I saw it. Her eyes glowed a feral golden. I watched frozen as Rufus tried to throw a punch at Shai. She caught his fist in her hand and she shoved him away as easily as if he were a rag doll.

Rufus obviously afraid rushed for the trees. On the edge of the forest he stopped and turned around. Shai had made no attempt to follow him and neither did the rest of us.

Not happy with being bested by a teenage girl Rufus reached into his coat for his gun. He clicked the safety off and fired a round straight at Shai's head.

Time slowed. I made a few stumbling steps towards her, trying desperately to reach her before the bullet. But she was full of surprises tonight. She held her hand out in front of her face and caught the bullet in her hand as if it were a baseball. She dropped the bullet the ground, unscathed. Angry Rufus trained the gun at me. I had used most of my energy trying to run to Shai and at the moment I had none to spare to save myself.

Shai's hand shot into the air and I was blasted off my feet. When I regained balance a bright wall of pure physical energy stood a foot before me. The wall circled the clearing keeping Rufus and Shai in and the rest of us out. Bullets hit the wall uselessly. Some bouncing off some being absorbed into the energy.

"Rufus." She barked at him. "For trying to break the eternal balance between the two worlds you have endangered the peace of the dead and the lives of the living. For your crimes, I banish you." With her verdict passed Shai brought her hand up towards the sky and dark clouds began to swirl onto a funnel shape. The funnel came sharply down to meet the ground Rufus was standing on. When the cloud cleared, Rufus was gone. The wall of energy also vanished.

Strength and energy flowed into me and I made my way towards Shai, over joyed by Rufus' fate.

"I don't think so." A dark shadowy arm wrapped around my neck and forced me to stop. I couldn't see the person's face but by the chill that was beginning to settle within me I knew this was a spirit.

"Aye!" Shai yelled. Not wasting anytime she thrust her hand forward and a gold bolt of lighting shot inches from my head. The grip loosened and I felt the figure disappear with the cold.

With that last act of power Shai's eyes lost their glow and she slumped to the ground. The moon was no longer at it's peak and whatever had caused Shai to have this immense amount of power left her drained of any of it.

I rushed to her side and I bent down next to her. Everyone else was around within seconds. Shai groaned and her eyes fluttered open, green just the way they should be. She pushed herself up to a sitting position. One question escaped her mouth, in her normal voice, a bit tired and confused sounding, but still her voice.

"Did we win?"

I had to laugh. "Win?! You took out an army of spirits and their psycho leader single- handed. I'd say we won a damn war." She still looked a little confused, but she laughed nonetheless. Then she looked around at the damage we had done. Singed grass, a destroyed monument, broken tree branches and whole trees toppled over.

"Did I do that?" She asked. I nodded. "Most of it." She looked a little embarrassed.

I helped her to her feet and when she nearly collapsed again I wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her steady. "Careful." I warned. She smiled at me gratefully. I didn't release her the whole walk back.

**ONE WEEK LATER**

Shai's POV

I smiled as I pushed a brush through my tangled hair.

16

Today I was officially 16. And the best part, I would actually be celebrating with my whole family. I slipped on a pair of jean shorts and a t-shirt, and I went downstairs to see who had been in the car that I heard pull up. I wasn't surprised to see Kiara in the living room I also wasn't surprised by her disapproving look.

"What are you wearing?" She asked, annoyed. I looked down at my clothes. "A t-shirt?" I said/asked unsure of what I had done wrong.

"Shai you're turning 16 you have to at least look like a girl today." I rolled my eyes but I let her lead me back upstairs, knowing fighting was pointless.

When we got to my room Kiara began going through my clothes. Finally she pulled out the only dress that I had brought along with me to England. It was a midnight blue thin strapped dress that went to just above my knees. I had argued with her at first about wearing it but she won. Then she braided my dark wavy hair into a fishtail braid down my back. Lastly she pulled out my dragons. My dragons were really just a wrap around earring that looked like a dragon with the tail piercing into my earlobe. The other dragon was a gold and blue bracelet in the shape of a dragon that wrapped around my wrist. When she had finished with my outfit she was literally forcing eyeliner on my eye.

"There you can stop fighting me." Kiara finally sighed as she finished. The eyeliner was drawn a little bit off my eye to give me a odd feline look. "You look good as a cat." Kiara joked. Just to annoy her when her back was turned I drew a thick black dot on my nose and whiskers on my cheeks with the eyeliner. When Kiara turned back towards me she just rolled her eyes. Then she gave me a washcloth to clean the makeup off.

"Yeah, Ethan would think you look real attractive looking like that." She said sarcastically referring to my cat face. I blushed at her comment. "Why would I care about that?" I asked trying to sound casual and failing miserably. "Because you two have liked each other since day one." I shook my head. "That's not true." But my protests were lost on her.

When Kiara finally said I was fit to go outside into the yard I was overjoyed. Few decorations were set up but music was playing and food was set out on tables.

I was outside for no more then 10 minutes when Let her go by Passenger came on. My favorite song. "Hey, do you ah, wanna dance?" I turned to face Ethan who had apparently asked the question.

"Sure!" I followed him out to where Kiara, Jade, and Sophie, were trying to show Alex how to do a dance move. Ethan ignored them and instead wrapped his arms around my waist and I wrapped mine around his neck. After about thirty seconds of awkward silence I had to speak.

"Yes." He looked confused. "Yes what?"

"Yes, I would still have come to England." Realization dawned on him and he smiled. "I'm glad, you coming here is one of the most amazing this that's ever happened." I found myself blushing at his words. He squinted at me. "Do you have cat whiskers on your face?" He asked. I blushed again, embarrassed. "It's a stupid joke, I was messing with Kiara."

"Oh, yeah she's probably not over thrilled with the fact that there was another person around to make fun of her 'art'." I laughed along with him and I found him staring at me.

"You're very beautiful, you know that?" I blushed uncontrollably. Without hesitation her pressed his lips to mine. I gladly returned the kiss. When we pulled apart he smiled at me and I smiled back.

It was that moment I realized I loved my destiny.

My twisted, strange destiny

My amazing, exciting destiny

My adventurous, mysterious, totally screwed up destiny

My Chosen Destiny


	33. Author's Note

**I am so excited! After I post this I can switch this story over to completed and I will officially be done with the first installment of Chosen Destiny. The sequel to this story if anyone is interested in reading it will be called 'Mirror Image'. I want to think everyone who has read and followed this story to the end. If I knew you personally I would go to your house and tell you how much it means to me in person, but that's illegal and I'll have to settle for this. Also of the people who are going to read the next one, I need a new character for 'Mirror Image' and if you could PM ideas I would love that. The new character will be a boy, 16 years old, and be Jade's crush. **

**Thank You! Love you all!**


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